_Section I_
1 Thou art what he is, Rā, thou givest birth to the royal Osiris,
thou makest him exist like thyself, god of the two horizons; the
birth of Osiris is the birth of Rā in the Ament, and reciprocally;
the birth of Osiris in the heavens is the birth of the soul of Rā
in the heavens, and reciprocally; the life of Osiris is the life
of Rā, and reciprocally; the development of his body is the
development of Rā’s body. Rā conceived, Tum gave birth to Osiris;
it is the young Chepra; Nut brings Osiris into the world, she
nourishes Osiris, like Rā’s soul which issued from her.
2 O, Rā who art in the Ament ...(636) who art in the empyrean,
deliver Osiris from thy conductors who separate souls from their
bodies, the agile beings who move quickly in thy places of
torment. May they never seize Osiris, may they never take him, may
they never quicken their steps toward him, may they never put him
in their places of torture, may they never cast their toils round
him, may they never place him upon their altars, may he never
tremble in the land of the condemned, may he never be lost in the
Ament. He walks as the god of the horizon walks, he takes Rā’s
steps, he worships the god who is on the earth, he honors the
mysterious bodies ...(637) they say to Osiris: Hu and Sa; they
call him this, because he is like the spirit of Hu and Sa(638) in
his creations; he makes the sacred tree grow he is not ignorant of
it. There are cries of joy in the mysterious region, for Rā sets
under the form of Osiris, and reciprocally. Rejoice, you the dead,
render praises to Rā, and Rā renders praises to you. Rā comes
forth from the cow Mehur,(639) he sets in Netur;(640) Osiris comes
forth from Nehur like the sun, he sets in Netur like Temt. The
name of the King is the name of Rā, Ammehur,(641) the setting of
Osiris, it is his setting, Amnetur.(642)
3 The gods of the empyrean bless him, the hidden gods rejoice over
him; they say to him: thy person is the god of the country of the
dead, thy form is Teb Temt. The hidden gods speak to the royal
Osiris, they rejoice on seeing him; (they say to him:) Hail,
blessed and perfect one, who comest forth from Tonen, the god who
destroys the forms; it is great, thy essence, spirit, shadow that
no one destroys, that lives where you live. He knows the essences
of the primitive beings, he knows the mysterious flames of the
empyrean, for he attains to holy and mysterious things.
4 The two gods speak to the royal Osiris, they rejoice on seeing
him, this blessed, perfect spirit; (they say to him:) This is one
of us. The gods speak to the royal Osiris, they rejoice when they
see him, him, the splendor of Rā, the splendor of the two
goddesses that appears in Heset,(643) the supplicant Heset
addresses the guardians who watch over the doors, who devour souls
and who swallow the shades of the dead; when they approach them,
they are led by them to the place of destruction: O guardians who
watch over your doors, who swallow souls and devour the shades of
the dead; when they approach you, you lead them to the place of
destruction; Oh! allow this blessed this most holy spirit, to be
in the dwelling of the Akher;(644) it is a spirit like Rā glorious
like Osiris. This is what Heset the supplicant says before the
royal Osiris.
5 O Heset, make him come, O Heset, guide the royal Osiris, O Heset
open to him the empyrean, give him the lot of the god of the
empyrean; he puts the veil _nems_(645) upon his head at the bottom
of the dwelling of the Ament. Hail to thee, he has reached thee;
Heset, guide him on the good way, he speaks to thee, he glorifies
thee by his invocations, and thou rejoicest on seeing his spirit;
Heset, the supplicant, open the doors which are in the empyrean,
open his spheres to him, for the club is in the hand of Osiris,
and he grasps his lance; his club strikes the enemies, and his
lance destroys the rebels; his dwelling is that of the god of the
two horizons; his throne is Rā’s throne; for he is the Horus of
the two horizons.(646) He is beautiful, this spirit, he is
perfect, he is powerful in both his hands.
6 The two great gods speak to the royal Osiris; they rejoice on
his account; they celebrate his victorious strength, they give him
their protection, they send him their spirit of life; (they say to
him:) He is brilliant like the spirit of the horizon that is the
dwelling of Rā in the heavens;(647) they communicate their words
to him, they give him the power by their authority. He opens the
door of heaven and earth like his father Rā; a spirit shining in
the place where they burn the offerings, in the arms of Osiris.
The royal Osiris rests in the mysterious dwelling, he shines like
the god of the luminary, the dwelling of Rā of the horizon.(648)
The royal Osiris is Rā; and reciprocally, he is the spirit of
Osiris, he rests (in him).
7 He reaches the gods of the pyramid; these latter praise him on
seeing the happy arrival of Osiris; they address him as Rā of the
horizon; praise be to Rā! cheers for the spirit of the horizon,
praises to the spirit of Rā! Praise his spirit that inhabits the
empyrean, invoke him who is in his disk, bear him to him who
created you, carry him unto the pyramid, since you are the gods
who accompany Rā Osiris. Here is Osiris, carry him into the hidden
sanctuary of Osiris, the lord of years(649) who is under the care
of the two Rehti. Carry him into the hidden dwelling where Osiris
resides, carry him into the funeral monument which is in the
Ament, the mysterious sanctuary of the god who is at rest; bear
him, open your arms to him, stretch out your hands to him, take
off your veils before him, for he is the great essence whom the
dead spirits do not know; it is Rā, the god of the two horizons,
and Osiris, the King of the Ament, who send him.
8 The royal Osiris is one of you, for his diadem is a vulture; his
face is a sparrow-hawk, his head is Rā; his eyes are the Rehti,
the two sisters; his nose is Horus of the empyrean; his mouth is
the King of the Ament; his lungs are Nun; his two hands are the
god Secheni;(650) his fingers are the gods who seize him; his body
is Chepra; his heart is Horus, the creator; his chest is the
goddess of life; his spleen is the god Fenti;(651) his lungs are
the goddess Heti; his stomach is Apu; his intestines, the god with
the mysterious names;(652) his back is the corpse-god; his elbows
are Makati; the nape of his neck, Horus Thoth; his lips Mehur; his
phallus is Tonen;(653) ...(654) the goddess of Cher; ...(655) the
two hidden gods; his sitting posture the two goddesses; his legs,
he who traverses the hidden places; his shin-bones are _uræus_.
His members are gods, he is throughout a god, no one of his
members is without a god, the gods are of his substance. The royal
Osiris is an intelligent essence, his members guide him, his flesh
opens the way to him, those who are born of him create him, they
rest when they have given birth to him. The royal Osiris is he who
gives them birth, it is he who begets them, it is he who makes
them exist; his birth is that of Rā in the Ament, Rā gives birth
to the royal Osiris, he causes his own birth.
_Section II_
1 O Rā, open to his spirit, for the royal Osiris knows what there
is in the empyrean, he is the great mummy, Osiris, the King of the
Ament; he is Osiris, he is perfect like Osiris, he is blessed like
Osiris, his club is that of Osiris, his sword is that of
Chentament, his sceptre is that of Sahou, he is the great one, the
King of the blessed, for he is the original one, he who knows the
mysteries, the greatest of the holy ones in the empyrean. He is
happy, the spirit Keschi who makes his own law in the Ament, he
speaks to what is born of him,(656) Osiris Chentament.
2 Hail to thee, inhabitant of the empyrean, praised be what is in
thee; hail to thee, inhabitant of the empyrean, the weeping gods
cut their hair in honor of thee, they clap their hands, they
revere thee, they weep before thee, thy spirit rejoices in their
fear, thy body is blessed.
3 Hail to thee, inhabitant of the empyrean, god seated upon his
throne, who boldest the sceptre _hik_,(657) King of the empyrean,
Prince of the Aker, great Prince crowned with the _urer_,(658)
great god who hides his dwelling, Lord of wisdom, Chief of the
powers.
4 Hail to the inhabitant of the empyrean, thy son Horus rests in
thee, thou communicatest thy orders to him, thou permittest him to
shine like An of the empyrean, the great star who creates his
names,(659) who knows the empyrean and who traverses the interior
of it, he, the son of Rā, proceeding from Tum. The royal Osiris is
thy son, thou communicatest thy orders to him, thou permittest him
to shine like An of the heavens, the great star who creates his
names,(660) who knows the empyrean and who traverses the interior
of it, he the son of Rā, proceeding from Tum. He rests in the
empyrean, he rejoices in the dusk, he enters in there and comes
forth, the arms of Tonen receive him, the blessed lift him, they
stretch out their hands toward him, the ...(661) guide him. Praise
him ye blessed, exalt the royal Osiris, ye blessed! Rejoice over
him, as over Rā, extol him like Osiris, he has placed your
offerings before you, he accords you the favor of receiving your
portion as his father Rā commanded. He is his darling, he is his
descendant upon the earth, and the blessed show him the way. Let
him arrive in the empyrean, and let him penetrate into the good
Ament. The royal Osiris fixes the crown upon the head of Osiris,
he offers his casket to Seb, he presents Sah with the sceptre, he
gives the royal diadem to him whose name is Ammon.
5 Look at him, ye blessed, let him receive a perfect intelligence,
let him shine like the god of mysteries, deliver him from the gods
of the pillory who fasten to their posts. May they never bind
Osiris to their posts, may they never put him in the place of
destruction, for he is the descendant of Osiris who permits him to
receive the diadem in the empyrean.
6 He is sublime, the spirit of Rā in the Ament, his body is
blessed there, the spirits rejoice when they develop their forms
in the zones of the empyrean, before the soul of Rā, the
inhabitant of the empyrean, and Teb Temt who rests in his
covering. Hail, yes, hail! Hail spirit of Rā, hail, spirit of the
royal Osiris like Temt! Hail, royal Osiris who art Rā, and
reciprocally! O Temt who art Rā, and reciprocally, hail!
7 The royal Osiris is one of you. He gives birth to you, he gives
you your names, he makes you perfect; ha! he sends his body into
you; ha! he is your creator. Look at him, he shines like him who
proceeds from you; he honors his father, perfect, blessed,
blessing his mother; look at him, make his essence sublime and
make him like him who destroys his forms;(662) show the way to his
spirit, set him upon your pedestals, make him rest in his members,
show him his dwelling in the midst of the earth, open your doors
to him, unfasten the bolt.
8 O Rā, O Teb-Temt, guide the royal Osiris following the direction
of the spirits, following the course of the gods. The royal Osiris
is in his gateway (in presence of the) navigating gods; the royal
Osiris is the only one, the guardian of his doors, he who puts the
gods in their places. He is upon his pedestal in the empyrean, he
is the possessor in the midst of the possessors, he is at the
extremities of the empyrean, he is blessed in the infernal
regions. He rests in the Ament among the spirits who are in the
members of the Ament. The royal Osiris is Rā’s darling, he is the
mysterious phœnix, he enters in peace into the empyrean, he leaves
Nut in peace; the royal Osiris has his throne in heaven, he
traverses the horizons in Rā’s train, he is at peace in the
heavens, in Rā’s fields, his share is upon the horizon in the
fields of Aalu; he traverses the earth like Rā, he is wise like
Thoth, he walks at will, he hastens in his course, like Sahu with
the mysterious names, who becomes two divinities. The royal Osiris
becomes two divinities. What Rā produces, the royal Osiris
produces; he gives a spiritual existence to what he loves; he does
not give it to what he hates. The royal Osiris is the Chief of the
gods who make offerings to the spirits, he is powerful in his
course, he is the courageous being who strikes his enemies.
9 O ye gods, O ye blessed who precede Rā and who escort his
spirit, do to the royal Osiris as to Rā, tow him with you in the
same way that you conduct Rā and the two navigating gods in the
heavens; the royal Osiris is Rā himself, and reciprocally; he is
the Chief of his worshippers who gives life to the forms.
_Section III_
1 O Ament, O Ament, O good, O good, O strong, O strong, O
powerful, O powerful, O protecting, O protecting, O mysterious, O
mysterious (Ament), the royal Osiris knows thee, he knows thy
form, he knows the name of thy companions. Ament, hide my corpse,
good Ament, hide my body. O resting-place, let me rest in thee; O
strong one, may the royal Osiris be strong with thy strength; O
powerful one, may he be powerful with thy power! O Ament, open thy
arms to him; O protectress, cover his body; O mysterious being,
stretch out thy hand to him. Hail, holy Ament of Osiris with the
mysterious names, the most holy of the gods, thou who art the most
hidden of all mysteries. Hail! the royal Osiris worships thee; he
addresses the great god who is within thee. Hail! he worships
thee; open thy mysterious doors to him. Hail! he worships thee;
(open to him) thy hidden spheres, for he has his dwelling in the
heavens like Rā, and his throne is upon the earth like Seb; he is
seated upon the throne of Seb, upon the seats of Horchuti; his
spirit soars into the heavens, it rests there; his body descends
to the earth in the midst of the gods. He walks with Rā, he
follows Tum, he is like Chepra, he lives as thou livest in truth.
2 When this book is read he who reads it purifies himself at the
hour when Rā sets, who rests in the Ament of the Ament, when Rā is
in the midst of hidden things, completely.
The Book Of Respirations
Translated by P. J. De Horrack
The manuscript a translation of which here follows belongs to the Museum
of the Louvre, in Paris, where it is registered under the No. 3284
(_Devéria, Catalogue des MS. égypt._, p. 132). It probably dates from the
epoch of the Ptolemies. It is in hieratic writing and generally known by
the name of “Book of Respirations” or “Book of the Breaths of Life,”
according to Mr. Le Page Renouf’s ingenious interpretation. This book
seems to have been deposited exclusively with the mummies of the priests
and priestesses of the god Ammon-Rā, if we may judge from the titles
inserted into the manuscripts.
Dr. Brugsch, in 1851, first directed the attention of Egyptologists to
this curious work, by publishing a transcription in hieroglyphics of a
hieratic text in the Berlin Museum, with a Latin translation, under the
title of “_Shaï an Sinsin, sive liber Metempsychosis_,” etc. He added to
this a copy of a hieratic text of the same book found in Denon (“_Voyage
en Egypte_,” pl. 136).
A full analysis of this literary composition has also been given by Dr.
Samuel Birch, in his Introduction to the “_Rhind Papyri_,” London, 1863.
The Paris manuscript is as yet unpublished, but a copy of it will be
produced ere long by the present translator. A few passages corrupted by
the ancient scribe have been restored from copies of the same text, which
are in the Egyptian Museum of the Louvre.
The “Book of Respirations” has a great analogy with that of the
“Lamentations of Isis and Nephthys.” It not only makes allusion to the
_formulæ_ and acts by means of which the resurrection is effected, but
also treats of the life after death, thus greatly increasing our knowledge
of the religious system of the ancient Egyptians.
THE BOOK OF RESPIRATIONS
1 Commencement of the Book of Respirations
made by Isis for her brother Osiris,
to give life to his soul,
to give life to his body,
to rejuvenate all his members anew;
that he may reach the horizon with his father, the Sun;
that his soul may rise to Heaven in the disk of the Moon;
that his body may shine in the stars of Orion on the bosom of
Nu-t;(663)
in order that this may also happen
to the Osiris, divine Father, Prophet of Ammon-Ra, King of the
gods,
Prophet of Khem, of Ammon-Ra, bull of his mother,
in his great abode,
Asar-aau, justified,
Son of the Prophet of the same order, Nes-paut-ta-ti, justified,
Conceal (it), conceal (it)!
Let it not be read by anyone.
It is profitable to the person who is in the divine Nether-World.
He liveth in reality millions of times anew.
2 Words spoken:
Hail to the Osiris N!(664) thou art pure;
thy heart is pure,
thy fore-part is purified,
thy hind-part is cleansed,
thy middle is in _Bat_(665) and natron.
No member in thee is faulty.
The Osiris N is (made) pure by the lotions
from the Fields of Peace, at the North of the Fields of
Sanehem-u.(666)
The goddesses Uati (and) Suben have purified thee
at the eighth hour of the night
and at the eighth hour of the day.
Come Osiris N!
Thou dost enter the Hall of the Two Goddesses of Truth.
Thou art purified of all sin, of all crime.
Stone of Truth is thy name.
3 Hail to the Osiris N!
Thou, being very pure, dost enter the Lower Heaven.
The Two goddesses of Justice have purified thee in the Great Hall.
A purification hath been made to thee in the Hall of Seb.
Thy members have been purified in the Hall of Shu.(667)
Thou seest Rā in his setting,
(as) Atum(668) in the evening.
Ammon is near to thee, to give thee breath,
Ptah, to form thy members.
Thou dost enter the horizon with the Sun.
Thy soul is received in the bark Neshem(669) with Osiris.
Thy soul is divinized in the Hall of Seb.
Thou art justified forever and ever.
4 Hail to the Osiris N!
Thine individuality is permanent.
Thy body is durable.
Thy mummy doth germinate.
Thou art not repulsed from heaven, (neither from) earth.
Thy face is illuminated near the Sun.
Thy soul liveth near to Ammon.
Thy body is rejuvenated near to Osiris.
Thou dost breathe forever and ever.
5 Thy soul maketh thee offerings, each day,
of bread, of drinks, of oxen, of geese, of fresh water, of
condiments.
Thou comest to justify it.
Thy flesh is on thy bones,
like unto thy form on earth.
Thou dost imbibe into thy body.
Thou eatest with thy mouth.
Thou receivest bread, with the souls of the gods.
Anubis doth guard thee.
He is thy protection.
Thou art not repulsed from the gates of the Lower Heaven.
Thoth, the doubly great, the Lord of Sesennu, cometh to thee.
He writeth for thee the Book of Respirations, with his own
fingers.
Thy soul doth breathe forever and ever.
Thou dost renew thy form on earth, among the living.
Thou art divinized with the souls of the gods.
Thy heart is the heart of Rā
Thy members are the members of the great god.(670)
Thou livest forever and ever.
6 Hail to the Osiris N!
Ammon is with thee each day
to render thee life.
Apheru openeth to thee the right way.
Thou seest with thine eyes;
thou hearest with thine ears;
thou speakest with thy mouth;
thou walkest with thy legs.
Thy soul is divinized in Heaven,
to make all the transformations it desireth.
Thou makest the joy of the sacred _Persea_ in An.
Thou awakenest each day.
Thou seest the rays of Rā.
Ammon cometh to thee with the breath of life.
He granteth to thee to breathe in thy coffin.
Thou comest on earth each day,
the Book of Respirations of Thoth being thy protection.
Thou breathest by it each day.
Thine eyes behold the rays of the disk.
Truth is spoken to thee before Osiris.
The _formulæ_ of justification are on thy body.
Horus, the defender of his father, protecteth thy body.
He divinizeth thy soul as well as (those) of all the gods.
The soul of Rā giveth life to thy soul.
The soul of Shu filleth thy respiratory organs with soft
breath.(671)
7 Hail to the Osiris N!
Thy soul doth breathe in the place thou lovest.
Thou art in the dwelling of Osiris, who resideth in the West.
Thy person is most pure.
Thou dost arrive in Abydos.
He (Osiris) filleth thy dwelling Hotep with provisions.
8 Hail to the Osiris N!
The gods of all Egypt come to thee.
Thou art guided toward the end of centuries.
Thy soul liveth.
Thou dost follow Osiris.
Thou breathest in Rusta.
Secret care is taken of thee by the Lord of Sati(672)
and by the great god.(673)
Thy body liveth in Tattu (and in) Nifur.
Thy soul liveth in Heaven forever.
9 Hail to the Osiris N!
Sechet prevaileth against what is injurious to thee.
Har-aa-hetu taketh care of thee.
Har-shet doth form thy heart.
Har-maa doth guard thy body.
Thou continuest in life, health (and) strength.
Thou art established upon thy throne in Ta-ser.
Come, Osiris N!
Thou appearest in thy form.
Strengthened by thine ornaments(674)
thou art prepared for life.
Thou remainest in a healthful state;
thou walkest, thou breathest everywhere.(675)
The Sun doth rise upon thine abode.
Like unto Osiris, thou breathest, thou livest by his rays.
Ammon-Ra giveth life to thee.
He doth enlighten thee by the Book of Respirations.
Thou dost follow Osiris and Horus, Lord of the sacred bark.
Thou art as the greatest of the gods among the gods.
Thy beautiful face liveth (in) thy children.
Thy name doth always prosper.
Come to the great temple in Tattu.
Thou wilt see him who resideth in the West,
in the Ka-festival.
Delicious is thy perfume as that of the blessed;
great thy name among the elect.
10 Hail to the Osiris N!
Thy soul liveth by the Book of Respirations.
Thou unitest thyself to the Book of Respirations.
Thou dost enter the Lower Heaven;
thine enemies are not (there).
Thou art a divine soul in Tattu.(676)
Thy heart is thine;
it is (no longer) separated from thee.
Thine eyes are thine;
they open each day.
11_a_ Words spoken by the gods who accompany Osiris, to the Osiris
N:
Thou dost follow Ra.
Thou dost follow Osiris.
Thy soul livest forever and ever.
11_b_ Words spoken by the gods who dwell in the Lower Heaven
(like) Osiris of the West, to the Osiris N:
Let them open to him at the gates of the Lower Heaven.
_He is received_(677) in the divine Nether-World,
that his soul may live forever.
He buildeth a dwelling in the divine Nether-World.
He is rewarded.(678)
He hath received the Book of Respirations,
that he may breathe.
12 Royal offering to Osiris who resideth in the West,
great god, Lord of Abydos,
that he may give offerings
of bread, of _hak_, of oxen, of geese, of wine, of the liquor
_aket_, of bread _Hotep_,
of good provisions of all kinds,
to the Osiris N.
Thy soul liveth.
Thy body doth germinate,
by order of Rā himself,
without pain, without injury,
like unto Ra forever and ever.
13 O Strider, coming out of An,(679)
the Osiris N hath not committed any sin.
O Mighty of the Moment, coming out of Kerau,
the Osiris N hath not done any evil.
O Nostril, coming out of Sesennu,(680)
the Osiris N hath not been exacting.
O Devourer of the Eye, coming out of Kerti,
the Osiris N hath not obtained anything by theft.
O Impure of visage, coming out of Rusta,
the Osiris N hath not been angry.
O Lion-gods, coming forth from heaven,
the Osiris N hath not committed any sin by reason of hardness of
heart(?)
O Fiery-Eyed, coming out of Sechem,
the Osiris N hath not been weak.
14 O ye gods who dwell in the Lower Heaven,
hearken unto the voice of Osiris N.
He is near unto you.
There is no fault in him.
No informer riseth up against him.
He liveth in the truth.
He doth nourish himself with truth.
The gods are satisfied with all that he hath done.
He hath given food to the hungry,
drink to the thirsty,
clothes to the naked.
He hath given the sacred food to the gods,
The funeral repasts to the pure Spirits.
No complaint hath been made against him before any of the gods.
Let him enter (then) into the Lower Heaven
without being repulsed.
Let him follow Osiris, with the gods of Kerti.
He is favored among the faithful,(681)
(and) divinized among the perfected.
Let him live!
Let his soul live!
His soul is received wherever it willeth.
(He) hath received the Book of Respirations,
that he may breathe with his soul,
(with) that of the Lower Heaven,
and that he may make any transformation at his will,
like (the inhabitants) of the West;(682)
that his soul may go wherever it desireth,
living on the earth forever and ever.
He is towed (like) Osiris into the Great Pool of Khons.
When he has retaken possession of his heart(683)
the Book of Respirations is concealed in (the coffin).
It is (covered) with writing upon Suten,
both inside and outside (and)
placed underneath his left arm,
evenly with his heart;...
When the Book has been made for him
then he breathes with the souls of the gods forever and ever.(684)
It is finished.
THE EPIC OF PENTA-OUR
Translated by C. W. Goodwin, M.A.
The commencement of the epic of Penta-our is wanting in the papyrus, and
the end is also defective, but the date of the composition and the name of
the writer have fortunately escaped. It appears to have been written in
the ninth year of the King whose valor it celebrates. Champollion saw this
papyrus, and had formed some notion of the nature of its contents, but to
M. de Rougé belongs the honor of having first given a complete translation
of it. This was published in the “_Revue Contemporaine_,” 1856, p. 389.
The scene of the exploit lies in the neighborhood of the city of
Katesh,(685) the capital of the Hittites, which stood on the banks of a
river named Anrata (or Aranta, as it is sometimes written), perhaps the
Syrian Orontes. It appears, from the sculptures and inscriptions of
Ibsamboul and the Theban Ramesseum, that Rameses II, in the fifth year of
his reign, made an expedition into Asia to suppress a revolt of the
Asiatic tribes headed by the Prince of Heth. Arrived near Katesh, upon the
south side of the city, certain wandering Arabs came to inform him that
the forces of the Hittites had retired toward the south, to the land of
the Khirbou. These Arabs were, however, in the service of the enemy, and
were sent with the intention of entrapping the Egyptians, the fact being
that the Hittites and their allies were assembled in force to the north of
the town. Rameses fell into the trap, and advanced to the northwest of
Katesh while the body of his army proceeded to the south. Shortly after
two Hittite spies were caught and brought to the King, and under the
pressure of the bastonnade, confessed the true state of the affair. The
prince of the Hittites had in the meantime executed a movement to the
south of the city, and thus the King was cut off from the body of his
troops, and only escaped destruction by the dashing exploit which his
admiring subjects seem to have been never weary of commemorating, and
which furnished Penta-our, the court poet, with a brilliant theme. A few
extracts from the recital shall be given, based upon M. de Rougé’s
version, from which I venture in a few respects to deviate. The papyrus
begins in the middle of a sentence, at the moment when the King had
discovered his mistake.
“[The Prince of] Heth advanced with men and horses well armed [or
full of provender?]: there were three men to each chariot.(686)
There were gathered together all the swiftest men of the land of
the vile Hittites, all furnished with arms ... and waited
stealthily to the northwest of the fortress of Katesh. Then they
fell upon the bowmen of Pharaoh, into the middle of them, as they
marched along and did not expect a battle. The bowmen and the
horsemen of his Majesty gave way before them. Behold they were
near to Katesh, on the west bank of the river Anrata. Then was
[fulfilled?] the saying of his Majesty. Then his Majesty, rising
up like the god Mentou [Mars], undertook to lead on the attack. He
seized his arms—he was like Bar [Baal] in his hour. The great
horse which drew his Majesty his name was Nekhtou-em-Djom, of the
stud of Rameses-Meiamen ... His Majesty halted when he came up to
the enemy, the vile Hittites. He was alone by himself—there was no
other with him in this sortie. His Majesty looked behind him and
saw that he was intercepted by 2,500 horsemen in the way he had to
go, by all the fleetest men of the prince of the base Hittites,
and of many lands which were with him—of Artou [Aradus], of
Maausou, of Patasa, of Kashkash, of Aroun, of Kadjawatana, of
Khirbou, of Aktra, Katesh, and Raka. There were three men to each
chariot, they were ... but there were neither captains, nor
squires, nor leaders of bowmen, nor skirmishers [with the King],
‘My archers and my horsemen forsook me, not one of them remained
to fight with me.’ Then said his Majesty, ‘Where art thou now, my
father Amen? Behold, does a father forget his son? But do I
confide in my own strength? Walking or standing, is not my face
toward thee? Do I not inquire the counsels of thy mouth? Do I not
seek for thy mighty counsels, O thou great lord of Egypt, at whose
approach the oppressors of the land are scattered? What now is the
hope of these Aamou? Amen shall abase those who know not god. Have
I not made for thee many and great buildings of stone? have I not
filled thy temple with my spoils, building for thee a temple to
last myriads of years? ... The whole earth unites to bring thee
offerings ... [to enrich] thy domain. I have sacrificed to thee
30,000 oxen, with all kinds of sweet-scented herbs. Have I not put
behind me those who do not thy will? ... I have built thee a house
of great stones, erecting for thee eternal groves; I have brought
for thee obelisks from Abou [Elephantine]; I have caused the
everlasting stones to be fetched, launching for thee boats upon
the sea, importing for thee the manufactures of the lands. When
was it ever before said that such a thing was done? Confounded is
every one who resists thy designs; blessed is every one who obeys
thee, O Amen. That which thou doest is dear to my heart[?] I cry
to thee, my father, Amen. I am in the midst of many unknown people
gathered together from all lands. But I am alone by myself; there
is none other with me. My bowmen and my horsemen have forsaken me;
they were afraid; not one of them listened when I cried to them.
Amen is more helpful to me than myriads of bowmen, than millions
of horsemen, than tens of thousands of chosen youths, though they
be all gathered together in one place. The arts of men prevail
not, Amen is more powerful than they; they follow not the commands
of thy mouth, O sun! Have I not sought out thy commands? have I
not invoked thee from the ends of the earth?’ ”
This invocation is heard, and the King proceeds to make a vigorous charge
against the enemy, who are scattered in all directions. The prince of the
Hittites rallies, and succeeds in bringing them again to the combat, but
they are repulsed by the King. It will be observed that sometimes the
writer himself speaks, but generally the narrative is put into the mouth
of the King—a poetical artifice which gives a certain liveliness to the
composition—
“ ‘I ran toward them, like the god Mentou, I fleshed my hand upon
them in the space of a moment[?]. I smote them, I slew them, so
that one of them cried to another, saying, “It is no man”
[superhuman]. Mighty was he who was among them, Soutech, the most
glorious. Baal was in my limbs; why was every enemy weak? his hand
was in all my limbs. They knew not how to hold the bow and the
spear. As soon as they saw him, they fled far away with speed, but
his Majesty was upon them like a greyhound. He slew them, so that
they escaped not.’ ”
The King’s squire or armor-bearer is seized with terror, and conjures his
master to fly. The King comforts him; and after charging the enemy six
times, returns victorious from the field. Rameses, on rejoining his
troops, addresses a long tirade to his captains upon their cowardice, and
enlarges upon his own valor without any modest scruples. In the evening
the rest of the troops came dropping in, and were surprised to find the
whole country strewed with the bodies of the dead. The whole army joins in
singing the praises of the courageous leader—
“ ‘Hail to the sword, thanks to the bold warrior, strengthener of
hearts, who deliverest thy bowmen and thy horsemen, son of Toum,
subduing the land of the Hittites with thy victorious sword. Thou
art King of victories; there is none like thee, a King fighting
for his soldiers in the day of battle. Thou art magnanimous, the
first in battle. The whole world joined together cannot resist
thee. Thou art the mighty conqueror, in the face of thy army. The
whole earth falls down before thee saying homage. Thou rulest
Egypt, thou chastisest the foreigners, thou crushest, thou bowest
the back of these Hittites forever.’ Then said his Majesty to his
bowmen and his horsemen, likewise his captains, ‘Ye who did not
fight, behold none of you have done well, in that ye left me alone
among the enemy. The captains of the vanguard, the sergeants of
the infantry, came not to help me. I fought against the myriads of
the land alone. I had the horses Nechtou-em-Djom and
Becht-herouta; they were obedient to the guidance of my hand, when
I was alone by myself in the midst of the enemy. Therefore I grant
to them to eat their corn in the presence of Ra continually, when
I am in the gate of the palace, on account of their having been
found in the midst of the enemy: and as for the armor-bearer who
remained with me, I bestow upon him my arms, together with the
things which were upon me, the habiliments of war.’ Behold his
Majesty wore them in his great victory, overthrowing myriads
assembled together with his conquering sword.”
The battle is renewed the next day, and the Hittites are thoroughly
routed. An envoy from the chief is now announced, suing for mercy. Rameses
acts the part of a magnanimous conqueror, and grants pardon to the
repentant rebels. He then returns peaceably to Egypt, leaving the terror
of his arms in all the countries of the East.
At the end of the last page of the manuscript are the date and dedication,
unfortunately somewhat mutilated. The writer Penta-our dedicates it, not
to the King, but to a chief librarian, probably Amen-em-an, with whom he
carried on a correspondence. This poem was so highly appreciated by the
King that he caused it to be engraved in hieroglyphics upon the walls of
one of his palaces, where some remains of it may be still seen. If the
date be correctly read, it would appear to have been written four years
after the event it celebrates, and, notwithstanding the exaggerated style
of adulation which pervades it, there can be little doubt that some such
occurrence as that which it represents really took place.
FOOTNOTES
_ 1 I.e._, the mountain of sunset.
_ 2 I.e._, Maāt.
3 The following petition, “Oh, grant thou unto me a path,” etc., is
written once only, and at the end of the Litany, but I think it is
clear that it was intended to be repeated after each of the nine
addresses. This is proved by the Saīte Recension (see Lepsius, op.
cit, Bl. 5) where the words, “Grant thou the sweet breath of the
north wind to the Osiris Auf-ānkh,” are written in two places and
are intended to be said after each of the ten addresses above them.
_ 4 I.e._, “the place where nothing groweth,” the name of a district in
the underworld.
5 The name of the sanctuary of the goddess Nekhebet in Upper Egypt,
the Eileithyiapolis of the Greeks.
_ 6 I.e._, the two lands Atebui, which were situated one on each side
of the celestial Nile.
_ 7 I.e._, the land on each side of the Red Sea and on the coast of
Africa.
_ 8 I.e._, “Lady of life,” a name of Isis.
_ 9 I.e._, the mountain of the sunset.
_ 10 I.e._, the mountain of the sunset.
_ 11 I.e._, An-rut-f, the place where nothing groweth.
_ 12 I.e._, the mountain of sunrise, but the scribe appears to have
written “Baakha” instead of “Manu.”
_ 13 I.e._, the Sun and the Moon.
_ 14 I.e._, the Sun and Moon.
_ 15 I.e._, the dead.
16 The name of the deceased is wanting.
_ 17 I.e._, “Osiris, Governor of Amentet.”
18 Pe and Tepu were two famous sanctuaries of northern Egypt.
_ 19 I.e._, An-rut-f.
20 “Ab” is undoubtedly the “heart,” and “hat” is the region wherein is
the heart; the word may be fairly well rendered by “breast,” though
the pericardium is probably intended.
21 “Erpat,” _i.e._, “tribal chief.”
22 The Papyrus of Mes-em-neter (Naville, “Todtenbuch,” Bd. II. p. 92)
adds: “His heart goeth forth to take up its abode in his body, his
heart is renewed before the gods, and he hath gained the mastery
over it.”
23 The words within brackets are from the Papyrus of Mes-em-neter.
_ 24 I.e._, the god of the “Large Face.”
_ 25 I.e._, the deceased.
26 The words within brackets are translated from the Papyrus of Nebseni
(sheet 4).
_ 27 I.e._, Mycerinus, a king of the fourth dynasty.
_ 28 I.e._, “He of two teeth” (or two horns); the Saīte Recension
(Lepsius, op. cit., Bl. 16) reads “Bent,” _i.e._, “ape.”
_ 29 I.e._, “Thy face is of right and truth.”
30 We should probably add the word “tep” and read “Tep tu-f,” “He that
is upon his hill,” _i.e._, Anubis.
31 The Theban texts mention four crocodiles only.
32 So far back as 1867 the late Dr. Birch identified the animal
“maftet” with the lynx.
33 Read, “the lord of the city of Shennu” _i.e._, of Kom Ombos.
34 Or, “I report [my] message to Nebes” (or Nebses).
35 The two opponent goddesses, or Isis and Nephthys(?).
36 These words are from the Papyrus of Ra.
37 The words within brackets are supplied from the Papyrus of
Mes-em-neter.
_ 38 I.e._, The “land of cold and refreshing water.”
39 Literally, “eat.”
40 A king of the first dynasty. See also the rubric to the longer
version of the 64th from the Papyrus of Nu, infra, p. 47.
41 These words are added from the Papyrus of Nebseni.
42 From the Papyrus of Nu, sheet 13.
43 From Papyrus of Nu, sheet 21.
44 He was the son of Cheops, the builder of the Great Pyramid at Gîzeh.
45 Here follows the text of Chapter of “Preserving the Heart,” page 25.
_ 46 I.e._, the souls of Horus and Rā.
47 This Rubric is taken from the Papyrus of Thenna (see Naville, op.
cit., Bd. II. p. 153).
48 From the Papyrus of Ani (Brit. Mus. No. 10,470, sheet 6).
49 The words in brackets are supplied from Naville, op. cit., Bd. II.
p. 158.
50 Literally, “Thou hast given unto me.”
51 The variants are Aahet At, Aahet Ateh, and one papyrus gives the
words, “I am the great god”; see Naville, op. cit., Bd. II. p. 167.
52 Literally, “I flew.”
53 I believe that “Turtle” is the correct translation.
54 Literally, “dilated with years.”
55 Added from the Papyrus of Nebseni.
56 Added from the Papyrus of Nebseni.
57 The Papyrus of Nebseni has, “make thou me to see my soul and my
shade.”
58 This rubric is taken from the Papyrus of Ani, sheet 17.
59 The Papyrus of Ani contains what are, apparently, two versions of
this chapter.
_ 60 I.e._, the “Governor of Amenti,” or Osiris.
61 This title is taken from the Saïte Recension.
_ 62 I.e._, the four pillars at the south, north, west, and east of
heaven upon which the heavens were believed to rest.
63 In the Saïte Recension this chapter is about twice as long as it is
in the Theban Recension.
64 The words in brackets are from the Papyrus of Nebseni.
65 Or, “I am at peace with the god of the city.”
_ 66 I.e._, “Existence in Peace,” the name of the first large section of
the Elysian Fields.
67 The name of a pool in the second section of the Elysian Fields.
68 The name of a pool in the first section of the Elysian Fields.
69 The name of a pool in the second section of the Elysian Fields.
70 The name of a district in the third section of the Elysian Fields.
71 The name of a pool in the first section of the Elysian Fields.
72 The name of a pool in the third section of the Elysian Fields.
73 The name of a pool in the third section of the Elysian Fields.
74 A name of the city of Mendes, the metropolis of the sixteenth nome
of Lower Egypt.
_ 75 I.e._, he lost his temper and raged.
_ 76 I.e._, Cusæ, the metropolis of the fourteenth nome of Upper Egypt.
77 The words in brackets are from the Papyrus of Neb-qet (sheet 3).
78 A fuller title of this chapter is, “The Chapter of knowing the name
of Osiris, and of going into and of coming forth from Re-stau.”
79 For the text see Naville, op. cit., Bd. I. Bl. 130.
80 The words in brackets are from the Papyrus of Amen-em-heb. See
Naville, op. cit., Bd. II. p. 267.
81 The Papyrus of Mes-em-neter adds, “bringing right unto thee the
divine being who loveth her.”
_ 82 I.e._, Heliopolis, Mendes or Busiris, Heracleopolis, Abydos,
Panopolis, and Sennu (a city near Panopolis).
83 The words in brackets are from the Saïte Recension (see Lepsius, op.
cit., Bl. 46).
_ 84 I.e._, the “Land of the inundation,” a name of Egypt.
85 In other papyri this chapter is called: (1) “The Chapter of going
into the Hall of double Maāti;” (2) “The Chapter of [the Hall of]
double Maāti and of knowing what is therein;” and (3) “The Book of
entering into the Hall of double Maāti.” See Naville, op. cit., Bd.
II. p. 275.
86 Variant, “I have not caused misery, I have not caused affliction.”
87 The words in brackets are added from the Papyrus of Amen-neb (Brit.
Mus. No. 9,964). See Naville, op. cit., Bd. II. p. 282.
88 Variant, “I have not defrauded the gods of their chosen meat
offerings.”
_ 89 I.e._, the month called by the Copts Mekhir, the sixth month of the
Egyptian year.
90 These words are added from the Papyrus of Nebseni.
91 These words are added from the Papyrus of Ani.
92 A city near Memphis.
93 The “Qerti,” or caverns out of which flowed the Nile, were thought
to be situated between Aswān and Philæ.
94 Variant, Neha-hra.
95 Variant, “like fire.”
_ 96 I.e._, the ninth nome of Lower Egypt, the capital of which was
Per-Ausar or Busiris.
97 The “City of the Sycamore,” a name of a city of Upper Egypt.
98 The thirteenth nome of Lower Egypt.
99 The metropolis of the nineteenth nome of Upper Egypt.
_ 100 I.e._, “lost my temper and become angry.”
101 These words are added from Brit. Mus. No. 9,905. Other papyri
introduce the address with the words: (1) “To be said when [the
deceased] cometh forth victorious from the Hall of double Maāti;”
(2) “To be said when he cometh forth to the gods of the underworld;”
(3) “The words which [are to be said] after the Hall of double
Maāati.”
102 The ordinary reading is, “For I have heard the word which was spoken
by the Ass with the Cat.”
103 A people who dwelt, probably, on the northeast frontier of Egypt,
and who have been by some identified with the Phœnicians.
104 These words are added from the Papyrus of Nebseni.
105 The Papyrus of Nu continues: “ ‘I will not open unto thee and I will
not let thee pass by me,’ saith the Guardian of this door, ‘unless
thou tellest [me] my name’; ‘Ox of Seb’ is thy name.” See above, l.
30.
106 Here the Papyrus repeats a passage given above.
107 The words “sema-kua” are superfluous.
108 After “Osiris” a Paris papyrus adds, “He shall come forth in
whatsoever form he is pleased to appear as a living soul forever and
ever.”
109 This chapter has no title either in the Theban or in the Saïte
Recension.
110 The words in brackets are added from Brit. Mus. No. 9,913.
_ 111 I.e._, districts or divisions of the underworld.
112 A name of the city of Abydos.
113 “The Book of making the soul to live forever. [To be recited] on the
day of embarking in the boat of Rā to pass over to the chiefs of
flame.” See Naville, op. cit., Bd. II. p. 338.
114 Read “Shu” instead of “maat.”
115 Or, “images.”
116 Or, “The chapter of making the way into heaven nigh unto Rā.”
117 In the Saïte Recension (see Lepsius, op. cit., Bl. 54) the house is
said to be “in the underworld.”
118 Another papyrus adds the words, “I have advanced, and behold, I have
not been found light, and the Balance is empty of my affair.”
119 The Papyrus of Nebseni has, “The Osiris Nebseni is the lord of
transformations in the presence of the hawk of gold.”
120 The Papyrus of Ani has “seven cubits.”
121 The words “or thy father” are from the Papyrus of Ani.
122 These words are from the Brocklehurst Papyrus (see Naville, op.
cit., Bd. II. p. 334). There are three copies of this rubric extant,
and no one of them is complete!
123 In the Papyrus of Nebseni the title of this chapter reads: “The
Chapter of embarking in the boat of Rā and of being with those who
are in his following.”
124 Read “god Osiris”?
125 Added from the Papyrus of Nebseni.
126 In the Papyrus of Nebseni the deceased is here addressed.
127 This name, frequently found in the letters, is the Egyptian
“Neb-mat-ra,” or Amenophis III.
128 As the Amorite “z” or “s” seems sometimes to represent the Hebrew
“sh,” this name might be compared with the Philistine “Achish.”
129 “Katna” is the present Katanah, on the south of Hermon, west of
Damascus.
130 Others read “Nuhasse.” It was a Hittite country, and appears to be
that of Mer’ash, under the Taurus, where a number of important
Hittite remains are found (see especially B. 31, 32).
131 Throughout the letters the enemy is always called a “slave,” a
“slave dog,” or “son of a dog,” as also in Egyptian texts.
132 Where breaks occur they are due to fractures of the tablet.
133 This appears, as throughout the letters, to apply to the King of
Egypt. All the Egyptian kings were regarded as descendants of gods,
and are so addressed in Egyptian records.
134 “Aidugama” does not appear to be a Semitic name, but, as we should
expect in Hittite, it is Mongol, and compares with “Akkadian,” as
meaning “the victorious lord.” He is called “Edagama” by the King of
Tyre (B. M. 30), who mentions his fighting with Neboyapiza, and
Aziru’s also.
135 Probably “Lapana” is Lybo, now Lebweh, north of Baalbek.
136 Probably R’aith (or R’ais), on the east side of the Buka’ah plain,
east of Zahleh, on the way from the Hittite country.
137 Perhaps should read “Zinaar” for “Senaar,” the Shinar of the Bible.
Merash and Ni have been noted above.
138 This word “bitati” always applies (and it is used very often) to
Egyptian soldiers. It seems to be an Egyptian word. Compare “pet”
(“foot”) and “petet” (“to invade or march”) in Egyptian.
139 Huba is identified by Dr. Bezold with the land of Hobah (Gen. xiv.
15), which was at the “entering in” north of Damascus. The “entering
in” here and at Hamath means a pass between hills leading to the
city. It has been objected that Hobah would be “Ubatu” in Assyrian;
but this fails in view of the detailed topography, which shows that
Dr. Bezold was right. The Hebrew heh is often replaced by Aleph or
vau in Aramaic.
140 The land Am or Amma, several times mentioned, appears to be the Old
Testament land of Ham, in northern Bashan, near Damascus (Gen. xiv.
5). The Hebrew is spelled with the soft aspirate, not the hard
guttural. It may perhaps be connected with the name of the “Amu” of
Egyptian records.
141 Damascus according to Dr. Bezold.
142 This name can be read “Namyapiza” or “Zimyapiza,” but probably means
“Nebo is holy,” Nebo being a well-known deity.
143 Gidisi or Cidisi is apparently Kadesh of the Hittites—now Kades on
the Orontes—north of the city of Neboyapiza. It is called “Cidsi” by
the King of Tyre (B. M. 30), and “Ciidsa” in the proclamation (92
B.).
144 “Paka” is one of the words used to designate Egyptian residents or
generals. It seems to be Egyptian, and simply means “Pa-ka” (“chief
man”).
145 Ammusi might be the ancient name of Emesa, now Homs, immediately
north of Kadesh.
146 “Elohim” is in the plural, as several scholars have remarked. It
often applies to the King of Egypt.
147 “Khazi” is evidently Ghazzeh, near the south end of the Baalbek
plain, south of the Damascus road.
148 This is doubtful, as the text is broken, and only gives “Belgi ...”
Baal Gad was, as I have attempted recently to show, probably near
’Ain Ju-deideh, on the north of Hermon, and close to the great pass.
149 “Maguzi,” or Mukhzi, is probably Mekseh, on the Damascus road, west
of Stora.
150 May be read “Yanuamma.” It seems to be M’araba, north of Damascus,
which agrees with the context. The great pass mentioned here in
connection with Damascus was apparently that by which the main road
from the west came down the Barada at Abila. This is the “entering
in” to Damascus, which (Gen. xiv. 15) was in the land of Hobah. This
agrees with the position of Neboyapiza’s town Kamid, west of Baal
Gad, and to the west of the pass. The scribe here wrote “east of
me,” and corrected to “behind me.”
151 Probably not Ashtoreth Carnaim, which is mentioned in another
letter, but rather Stora, in the Baalbek plain, northwest of Baal
Gad. Arzaya’s town seems to have been Mekseh, west of Stora (125 B.
M.).
152 “Buzruna” is probably Batruna, on the mountain west of the west end
of the pass, and immediately east of Baal Gad (perhaps mentioned
again in the fragment 205 B.).
153 “Khalavunni,” or Halabunni, is the Helbon of the Bible (Ezek. xxvii.
18), now Helbon, north of Damascus, and five miles north of the
middle of the pass. It must have been an important city because of
the term “King.” It was noted for wine, not only in Ezekiel’s time,
but, as Strabo mentions, the kings of Persia brought wine from
Chalybon.
154 “Gizza” is perhaps the important town Jezzin, in the Lebanon,
southwest of Kamid, unless it be Jizeh, in Bashan, between Edrei and
Bozrah.
155 “Saddu” is perhaps Nebi Shit, south of Baalbek, or possibly, though
less probably, Sh’ait, south of Kamid, on the southwest slope of
Hermon.
156 “Cumidi,” or Kamid, was important as a central station between
Damascus and the coast cities of Sidon and Beirut.
157 Or, perhaps, “hard-pressed.”
158 “Mikhiza,” perhaps the same as Maguzi, written by another scribe—the
modern Mekseh, as given above. “Maguzi” might be otherwise
transliterated as “Mukhzi.”
159 “Tubakhi” is the Tabukhai of the “Travels of an Egyptian” in the
reign of Rameses II (Chabas, p. 313), mentioned with Kadesh on
Orontes, and is the Tibhath of the Bible (1 Chron. xviii. 8),
otherwise Berothai. It may perhaps be the present Kefr Dubbeh, west
of Baalbek, and south of Kadesh, while Berothai is thought to be the
present Brithen (see 2 Sam. viii. 8), a few miles south of Baalbek.
The letter shows Aziru in league with the Hittites. David conquered
these cities from the King of Damascus.
160 Dr. Sayce calls this “the fields of Bashan”; probably, when taken
with the next letters, we may place the site at Zora, in Bashan, now
Ezra. De Rougé and Mariette showed that Thothmes III conquered
Bashan.
161 “Gubbu” is perhaps Jubbata, on the south side of Hermon, near the
places mentioned in the next letter.
162 Yankhamu, an Egyptian commander, appears in these letters in all
parts of the country, from the extreme south to the north, and in
Phœnicia as well as in Bashan. His name does not seem to be Semitic.
163 This letter does not say who the enemies were or in which direction
they advanced. Perhaps “Bikhisi” may be regarded as the present
“’Abbaseh” (by inversion of the guttural), which is fifteen miles
southwest of Damascus, near the main road to the town of Jabesh,
whence the letter comes.
164 The word “rabizi,” which is here made equivalent to “zukini,” gives
great difficulty. In Hebrew the root means “to rest,” and the word
is still applied in Palestine to resting of flocks. “Zukini”
appears, as Dr. Bezold points out, to be the same as the Phœnician
word “Soken” (which has exactly the required letters); but the
meaning of this also is doubtful. Renan translates it either
“inhabitant” or “senator.” The word occurs in the Bible (1 Kings i.
2, 4; Ezek. xxviii. 14), with the meaning also doubtful, but the
root means “to cherish.” Perhaps “friends” suits best the various
recurrences.
165 This word seems to mean “glory of the sun,” the Egyptian
“Khu-en-Aten.” The explanation throws light on a difficult passage
in a letter from Elishah (B. M. 5). If “Khu-en-Aten” (Amenophis IV)
is intended, he may have been commander while still only a prince,
since the events seem to belong to the reign of Amenophis III.
166 “Astarti” seems here to be Ashtoreth Carnaim, the present “Tell
Ashterah.”
167 “Udumu,” now Dameh, the Dametha of Maccabean times.
168 “Aduri”—Edrei in Bashan, now Edhr’a.
169 “Araru”—’Ar’ar, nine miles southeast of Ashtoreth.
170 “Meispa”—Ramath-Mizpah of Basnan, now Remtheh.
171 “Macdalim,” probably Mejdel Shems, east of Banias.
172 “Khini”—Hineh, south of Hermon, near the last.
173 “Zaar”—Zora of Bashan, now Ezra.
174 “Yabisi”—Yabis, a few miles northwest of the last.
175 The Egyptians would cross the Jordan near Megiddo, and come from the
southwest to oppose an enemy on the north and east, and reach
’Abbâseh, on the north, later than Yabis.
176 Saskhi is probably S’as’a, east of Banias, and northwest of Yabis.
177 Lupackhallu, a non-Semitic Hittite name. As a Mongol word, “the very
swift.”
178 Zitatna was King of Accho—a somewhat similar name; but probably the
King of Arvad is meant, as appears later.
179 This letter belongs to a late period in the war, since Ullaza has
been taken. It is given here as referring to the land of Ham. It may
very well have been written after Ribadda, the King of Gebal, left
the city (see 71 B.).
180 “Ammia,” mentioned again, appears to be Amyun south of Simyra.
181 “Ardata” is Ardi, near the last.
182 Kefr Khullis, north of Gebal, agrees with the required position for
Ullaza, which is mentioned often.
183 Nariba is Nereb, on the Euphrates, in the Hittite country.
184 An Egyptian name; perhaps to be compared with “han” (“kind”) in
Egyptian. An envoy of this name was sent to Dusratta, King of
Armenia, by Amenophis III, as an “interpreter” (21 B.).
185 Perhaps the Hittite King of Kadesh, or some other city.
186 Or perhaps “oil.”
187 Dodo in the Bible (1 Chron. xi. 12), from the same root as “David.”
He was not really Aziru’s father, but apparently a friend in Egypt.
188 “Beiti beitac” is still a polite phrase of welcome in Palestine.
189 The text is clear, but the epigram is not. He appears to mean the
King of Egypt when speaking of his gods, as also a few lines lower.
190 Meaning the King of Egypt.
191 “Khai” is also an Egyptian name, meaning “distinguished” in that
language. He is perhaps the “Khaia” of another letter by Ribadda (57
B.). It would seem that his embassy to Aziru had occurred between
the first and second visits of the envoy Khanni.
192 Mer’ash was in the west of the Hittite country, seventy-five miles
northwest of Tunep. The distance fits well, since thirty-seven and
one-half miles may be considered a forced march.
193 We cannot rely on Aziru’s protestations. If Khatib was a Hittite
King, it is certain that both were intriguing against Egypt.
194 Probably the pass in the valley of the ’Afrin River, near Kyrrhus,
twenty miles north of Tunip, is meant, being on the direct road to
Mer’ash.
195 “Abuca” (“your father”) might be understood in the sense in which it
is used every day in the East, where abûc means, “God curse your
father!”
196 Ni was to the east of Aziru’s country near Tunip.
197 “Khat-ib” may mean “Hittite hero.” The name of the Hittites means
probably “the confederates”; and the sign used on Hittite monuments
for the nation seems to be that which represents two allies facing
each other.
198 Abdasherah, as Dr. Sayce points out, means the servant of the
goddess Asherah (“the grove” of the Bible), and this is rendered
certain by the sign for Deity prefixed in one instance. It has no
connection with the name of Ashtoreth.
199 An Egyptian name, “Pa-Khemt” or “Pa-Khent,” meaning “very strong”
(see B. M. 24, Pakhamnata). It appears from Ribadda’s letter that
the station of this Paka was Simyra, and apparently the Amorites
killed him later on.
200 The word “Gur” is used in these letters as in the Bible, and, like
the Arab “Jâr,” to mean a man of one tribe or race protected by a
powerful tribe or person of another country.
201 In each case “gate” might be rendered “port,” as both of the cities
had famous ports.
202 The word “Khazanu,” commonly used in these letters for a ruling
class, apparently native, and in communication with the “Paka,” or
“head man,” who was Egyptian, appears to come from a root which
means “to treasure.” The word “Khazanutu” appears to mean “a
government.”
203 “Canaan” in these letters, as on the Phœnician coins and in the
Bible, is used in its strict sense as a geographical term for the
“lowlands” of Phœnicia and Philistia.
204 “Pisyari” appears to be a Hittite name, like the “Pisiris” of an
Assyrian inscription (Schrader), being the Mongol “bisir” (“rich”),
with the indefinite nominative in s, which marks the Hittite as a
non-Semitic tongue. The other names are also apparently non-Semitic,
and may refer to Hittites.
205 “Pabahaa” is perhaps the “Papaa,” conquered by Thothmes III (Karnak
List, No. 296), which was somewhere in North Syria, not far from
Tunip. The wickedness of this chief is said to have caused the war.
206 Gutium, mentioned in Assyrian texts, was a country on the northeast,
near the Caucasus. It has been compared with the word “Goim,” for
“Gentiles,” in Hebrew. Perhaps “Jebel Judi” (“Ararat”) is intended,
being Dusratta’s country allied to Egypt.
207 Probably ’Arkah, a well-known Phœnician city north of Tripoli, but
south of Simyra (Gen. x. 17). Aziru killed its king (91 B.).
208 “Yapaaddu” (“Adonis is beautiful”) is often mentioned again. He (see
61 B.) fell into the hands of Aziru, and seems to have been a king
of one of the cities near Simyra, apparently Sigata. This letter was
probably written about the time of the siege of Tyre, at a late
period in the war.
209 Ugariti is mentioned in a letter from Tyre (B. M. 30) in a
connection which shows that it was the present Akrith, between Tyre
and Accho.
210 “Sigata” appears to be Shakkah, north of the great pass of Shakkah
(Theouprosopon), where the King of Gebal was defeated by Aziru.
211 “Ambi” is now ’Aba, immediately east of Shakkah.
212 Simyra was on the low hills above the sea-plains, by the river
Eleutherus.
213 The last words explain how the letter got to Egypt.
214 These ships of the men of Misi are mentioned by Ribadda as failing
in an attempt to assist him. We may, perhaps, understand Egyptian
ships, and compare the Egyptian name “Mesti” applied to part of the
Delta.
215 From Dusratta’s great Hittite letter (27 B.) it appears that the
King of the Minyans, whose country was called Mitani, west of Lake
Van, in Armenia, claimed to be King of all the Hittites; and this is
what appears to be here intended. In other letters he is mentioned
among the invaders.
216 Arada, a city mentioned again as assisting Aziru with ships, appears
to be Aradus, the Arvad of the Bible, now Er Rûad, the island town
north of Simyra.
217 “Gula” is perhaps the town of Jûneh, north of Beirût, on the way to
Gebal.
218 “Ammiya” is Amyun, north of Gebal; and “Ardata” is Ardi near the
preceding.
219 Arpad is the city close to Tennib, which is mentioned in the Bible
in several passages (2 Kings xvii. 34; xix. 13; Isa. x. 9; Jer.
xlix. 23, etc.), now Tell Erfûd. It is remarkable that Aleppo is not
mentioned in this correspondence, for it is referred to in Egyptian
texts.
220 “Ribadda” (as the name is spelled in some of the letters in
syllables) may mean “child of Adonis.” Compare the Chaldee “Ribah”
for “girl,” in the feminine. That “Adda” was Adonis seems to be
derivable from the name “Adoram” (2 Sam. xx. 20), otherwise Adoniram
(1 Kings iv. 6).
221 “Gebal,” now “Jubeil,” was apparently the chief city of Phœnicia.
Its goddess Baalath is mentioned in the famous inscription of
Yehumelec (about 800 B.C.), found in the ruins of Gebal. She is also
mentioned in the “Travels of an Egyptian” (Chabas, p. 312).
222 Hamath was half-way from Aziru’s country to that of Ribadda.
223 A name very like Jeremiah.
224 “Mitana,” the later Matiene, Dusratta, its king, claimed to rule the
Hittites. The Amorites joined this league.
225 The region called “Casi” in the inscription of Usurtasen I (Brugsch,
“Hist.,” i., p. 139) was in Upper Egypt, and the Cush of the Bible
is apparently intended—a very vague term for the southern deserts
from the Euphrates to Nubia. There were, however, Cushites also in
Babylonia. In the present case the Cassites who lived on the
Euphrates, east of the Hittites, and who were Mongols, are probably
intended.
226 Literally “boys.” It seems often in these letters to be used as the
word “weled” (“a boy”) is still used in Syria to mean “a fellow,”
applied often to very old men.
227 This letter shows that the war lasted several years, over which the
Gebal letters (written by three or four different scribes) extend;
that the attack on Sidon preceded the taking of Gebal; and that
Ribadda was not deceived by Amorite promises, knowing their
co-operation with their Mongol allies of Armenia and the Hittite
country.
228 The letter in question may have been the proclamation against Aziru
given above.
229 “Milukha,” or Meroe, in Assyrian inscriptions means, according to
Dr. Brugsch, Nubia.
230 This perhaps refers to Khanni’s proclamation already given, and to
the Khai who had been sent at an earlier period to Aziru. The rebels
are named in the proclamation of the later embassy, which we thus
see to have had no effect. An envoy without a military force behind
him usually fails.
231 Durubli is probably the city which the Greeks called Tripoli, the
largest town between Simyra and Gebal. There is a village called
Turbul, on the northeast of Tripoli (Trâblus).
232 “Kau Pa-ur,” Egyptian words in the plural. “Kau” signifies “men,”
and “Pa-ur” (as in the letter from Jerusalem, B. 103) means “very
important.”
233 Probably the “Pakhanata” (97 B.) who was the “Paka,” or chief, of
whom Abdasherah speaks in the letter about the town of Ullaza, near
Gebal. He seems to have been the resident in Simyra (B. 80).
234 “Abur” is perhaps Beit-Abura, in the valley north of the great pass
Theouprosopon, between Gebal and Tripoli. The enemy had not as yet
forced the pass.
235 The second sign is doubtful, and the place does not suggest
identification (see 60 B.).
236 This agrees with the Jerusalem letters, as showing that the troops
had been withdrawn to Egypt. Amenophis sent commissioners and
summoned native levies, but does not appear to have been able to
send Egyptian forces.
237 The name “Saarti” perhaps survives in that of the Sha’arah district
of Lebanon, immediately south of Simyra, and near Yapaaddu’s town of
Sigata (Shakkah).
238 In Assyria we find the “measure of Istar.”
239 The Berbers are mentioned in Egyptian texts as inhabitants of Upper
Egypt.
240 “Khaia,” now in Egypt, had no doubt already become known to Ribadda
as an envoy.
241 A god Sausbe is mentioned in Dusratta’s Hittite letter.
242 Sigata (Shakkah) was just outside the great pass between Batrûn and
Tripoli.
243 Ambi (’Aba) was close to the last.
244 Only—rari is left, which Dr. Bezold thinks refers to Amenophis IV;
but it is doubtful if this letter can be placed so late.
245 “Kappa” is Keffa. The plain of Keffa is close to Amyun, north of the
great pass of Theouprosopon (Shakkah). Amyun follows at once.
246 “Batruna” is the well-known town Batrûn, the “Botrys” of classical
writers, which lies south of the wild pass of Râs Shakkah, where
apparently one of the battles of the war occurred (22 B. M.). When
the pass was taken, Batrûn seems still to have held out with Gebal,
being no doubt provisioned by sea.
247 “Kalbi” is Kelbata, in the heart of the great pass. I visited all
these places in 1881.
248 In this case the modern name “Akka” is nearer to the spelling of
these letters than is the Hebrew. This is the case with Shiloh and
other important towns, showing the Canaanite extraction of the
modern peasantry in Palestine. The Hebrews hardly ever renamed
towns, and the nomenclature preserves the ancient Canaanite forms
found in the lists of Thothmes III a century earlier than these
letters. Many towns were named from Canaanite and Philistine gods
(Shamash, Dagon, etc.), and the forms of the names in the Karnak
lists are Aramaic, and not Hebrew.
249 “Patzil” I understand to be equivalent to the Arabic “Fadl,” meaning
to do pleasure or honor to a person.
250 The Amorite chief had more than one son, as is clear in some cases.
Benmabenat (or Bumabuat) was Aziru’s brother.
251 Perhaps the name survives in that of the river Kadisha, near
Tripoli.
252 Ardata (Ardi), Ambi (’Aba), and Sigata (Shakkah) were north of the
pass; Yahlia, representing I’al, rather farther north than the
others.
253 Ullaza (Kefr Khullis) was close to Batrûn, on the south.
254 “Caphar Yazu,” or Alu-yazu, seems to be Kefr Yashit, near the
others.
255 Perhaps “Takheda” of another letter (58 B.).
256 See letter 71 B. The sign has the meaning “oracle,” “prophet.” No
doubt Ribadda had his diviners, like the kings of Assyria in later
times.
257 No. 53 B. is another short letter, much injured, which mentions
Batrûn; and in this a town called “Sina” is apparently noticed,
which, if the broken tablet can be so read, would be “Kefr Zina.” In
54 B. a city “Zina” occurs, but seems to be a clerical error for
“Sidon.” The land of Mitana is also mentioned in 53 B.
258 Neboyapiza had his own difficulties, as appears from his letters (96
B., 142 B., 43 B. M.).
259 Zimridi of Sidon is mentioned as a fugitive, while Gebal still held
out. Aziru marched from (ina) Gebal, no doubt, to attack the south.
In later ages the shore cities often held out while invaders from
the North marched on Egypt.
260 Amanabba was not really his father; it is a title of courtesy. His
father was Rabzabi (81 B., 82 B.), and Amanappa is an Egyptian name.
A certain captain Amenemhib has left an account of his services in
North Syria, at Aleppo, Carchemish, Kadesh, and at Ni, where he
hunted elephants; but this is supposed to have been a century
earlier. The site of Ni is settled by these letters and by the
Karnak lists as being in Mesopotamia, and there is a picture of an
elephant among the Asiatic spoils of Thothmes III. It is very
curious to find elephants so far west in Asia at this period.
261 Probably “outside” means north of the pass, and Ribadda made the
serious military mistake of defending his pass from outside instead
of inside.
262 This would seem to have been about the time of the proclamation
against Aziru, or rather earlier.
263 “Sapi” is probably the famous fortress Safita, northwest of Simyra.
264 The reinforcements were expected by sea, no doubt in the ships of
the Misi, or Delta men, the soldiers being Nubians from near Tell
Amarna, which was 180 miles south of Memphis.
265 Or Zabanba. Perhaps this is the Subandi, who writes letters from an
unknown town.
266 King of Beirût (B. M. 26, 27).
267 This translation is confirmed by the independent letter of Ribadda’s
friend Ammunira (B. M. 36).
268 Egada is no doubt the land of Ikatai mentioned in the “Travels of an
Egyptian” (Chabas, p. 312); it there occurs with Aleppo and the
country of the Hittites. In the letter of the Hittite Prince of
Rezeph (north of Palmyra) we hear of his country as Egait (B. 10).
Rezeph was not far south of Tiphsah, on the Euphrates, and southeast
of Aleppo. Bikhuru is, however, mentioned (18 B. M.) in connection
with the town of Cumidi.
269 I misread this name at first. The Amorite chief seems to have had
five sons including Aziru and (p. 224) Ben-mabenat (or Bumabula).
270 The paragraphs are marked off in many of the letters by the word
“sacunu” (“pause”).
271 “Taratzi” may perhaps be Tarsus. Baal Tarzi is the legend on
Phœnician coins of that city. Its king naturally would have a common
border with Abdasherah on the north, if his fortresses (or land)
were outside the northern Lebanon, which was the Amorite country,
and he was therefore regarded as a possible ally.
272 Comparing the letters from Beirût and Sidon (27 B. M., 90 B.) it
will be seen that the city whose freemen were on the side of Aziru
was Sidon.
273 If Ukri be the right reading, the town of ’Akkar in Lebanon, east of
Tripoli, would be probable. It gives its name to the district of
Jebel ’Akkâr, and is at the source of the river ’Akkår, which agrees
with the mention of the “waters.”
274 “Maar”(ah) is probably the Mearah of the Bible (Josh. xiii. 4), now
“el Mogheiriyeh,” six miles northeast of Sidon. This conquest may
have just preceded the fall of Sidon.
275 Gebal and Batrûn are ten miles apart. Ribadda’s kingdom had extended
at least twenty miles along the coast; and if Beirût and Tripoli
were not independent, his land would have reached much farther—to
Simyra and Sidon.
276 This letter shows very clearly that the taking of Sidon preceded the
fall of Byblos (Gebal).
277 From 75 B. it seems that Amanabba had been sent to Gebal (probably
in consequence of the former letters from Ribadda), but it seems he
fled again.
278 In later times the small mina of Palestine was £8 6s. 8d., and the
large was £16 13s. 4d. (see Conder’s “Handbook to the Bible,” p.
81). This represents, therefore, at least £500 or perhaps £1,000;
but in this early age the value of money was probably higher.
279 Ribadda has said (63 B.) that his sons fell into the power of the
enemy when in ships. He also sends a list of property to Egypt (85
B.). Probably when these ships were sent his father went to Egypt,
whence he wrote (82 B.), and a copy was sent to the King. There is
one other letter in the collection, which was written from Egypt, by
Amenophis III to the King of Babylon (B. M. 1), which seems to be a
copy, unless in both cases the letters were not sent. (See
Appendix.)
280 Gebal was celebrated for its papyrus. It grew in the river Adonis,
close to the city. The enemy were now closing in.
281 The salutations in the last letters are very curt as compared with
the earlier ones.
282 The King of Babylon refused to help the Canaanites in the reign of
Amenophis III.
283 The younger brother was not the one left in charge.
284 “Buruzizi” probably Beit Ziza, east of Batrûn, in the range which
runs out to the great pass of Ras Shakkah. Batrûn was perhaps still
holding out, and the town was a refuge high up in the wild
mountains. “Buru” means “well”; and “Beit” “house” of Ziza.
285 As regards the final outcome of these wars in the north we obtain
light from the letters of Dusratta, King of Mitani. He was a younger
man than Amenophis III, and his sister married the said King of
Egypt. His daughter Tadukhipa married Amenophis IV, and there were
friendly relations with Egypt in the latter as well as in the former
reign. In his Hittite letter (27 B.) Dusratta speaks of the
boundaries of a region which seems to have been conceded to him as
his daughter’s wedding-gift. He calls himself “Great Chief of the
Hittites,” and the border was to run to Harran, Chalcis (south of
Aleppo), and the “Phœnician West.” Thus Dusratta, who says in
another letter (apparently his first) that he has conquered the
Hittites, would seem to have swallowed up the Hittite King of
Mer’ash and part, if not the whole, of Aziru’s country; and the
Mongol populations were thus to be ruled from Armenia, which was
much nearer than Egypt. What became of the King of Kadesh these
letters do not say; but he was independent in later times, when Seti
I went up “to conquer the city of Kadesh in the land of the
Amorites” (Brugsch, Hist., ii. p. 15), and Kadesh was taken by
Rameses II, the successor of Seti I, after which a commercial treaty
was made with Kheta Sar, the King of Kadesh, whose daughter Rameses
II married. There was thus, perhaps, Hittite blood in the veins of
the Pharaohs of the nineteenth dynasty. In the treaty papyrus (see
Chabas’ “Voyage,” p. 336), it is mentioned that the same terms—of
equality—had existed in the time of the writer’s father and
grandfather that were claimed of Rameses II, and that war had
occurred later. This seems to show that Kadesh was independent
shortly after the time of the rebellion detailed in the Tell Amarna
letters. The relations with the Hittites were still friendly in the
reign of Rameses III, when the Aryan hordes from Asia Minor overran
the Hittite country, and came down even to Egypt. In David’s time,
the border between his kingdom and those of the Hittites and
Phœnicians was drawn from Hermon to Danjaan, south of Tyre (2 Sam.
xxiv. 6), and Solomon married Hittite princesses. The Hittite
independence was only finally destroyed about 700 B.C. by the
Assyrians.
286 The mulberry is still found in large gardens at Beirût and
throughout the Lebanon. Since Justinian’s time it has been the food
of silkworms.
287 This repetition may perhaps be regarded as only a phonetic
explanation of the preceding ideograms; but perhaps the words were
added to show with certainty that by the terms God and Sun he meant
the King of Egypt.
288 The name “Abimelech” at Tyre is interesting. It occurs as the name
of a Phœnician king in the time of Assurbanipal (885-860 B.C.). The
chief deity of Tyre was Moloch, or Melkarth; and the name means “my
father is Moloch,” claiming a divine descent. The son of Gideon and
certain Philistine kings are so named in the Bible.
289 Huzu is probably the modern el Ghazîyeh, near Sidon. It is at the
foot of the hills, and there is a stream (Nahr ez Zahrâny, “flowery
river”) four miles to the south, which accounts for the notice of
the waters. It seems clearly to have been in the direction of Sidon.
290 “Belu amil neru,” literally “a lord, a chief man of the yoke (or
government).”
291 See the letters from Hazor after those from Tyre. This petty monarch
was an enemy to the southern possessions of the King of Tyre.
292 The site of Zarbitu is probably the Sarepta, or Zarephah, of the
Bible (1 Kings xvii. 9, etc.), which is now Sarafand, half way
between Tyre and Sidon. The decision was therefore just; but though
apparently satisfied Abimelec did not get what he asked in the
preceding letter—if that demand was really the earlier one. There is
a fine fountain (’Ain el Kantarah, “spring of the arch”) to the
north of Sarepta, and the region generally is well watered. The town
was famous in the Byzantine age for wine.
293 “Danuna” is probably the Danjaan of the Bible, now the ruin Dâniân,
four miles north of Achzib, and on the border between Tyre and Accho
(see 2 Sam. xxiv. 6).
294 “Hugarit” is probably ’Akrîth, eight miles east of Danjaan. It has
been mentioned as taken by Aziru, in Yapaaddu’s letter (128 B.).
Perhaps the attack was from the east; and the King of Hazor seems to
have joined the Hittites (see 99 B.).
295 Edagama has been mentioned as “Aidugama” in Akizzi’s letter from
Katna, which was east of Neboyapiza’s city Cumidi (Kamid). See B. M.
37.
296 In the former letters (B. M. 31, B. 99) Abimelec has spoken of the
Paka as distinct from himself. Perhaps the Egyptian residents
withdrew when the troops were withdrawn.
297 Irib is probably ’Arab Salim, fourteen miles southeast of Sidon, on
the highest part of the mountains. It stands on a precipice 400 feet
above the gorge of the Zahrany River (Robinson, “Later Bib. Res.,”
p. 47), and was a stronghold.
298 Aziru’s allies from Arvad no doubt attacked Tyre by sea.
299 Dr. Bezold has remarked that want of water was always the weakness
of Tyre. In the reign of Rameses II the Egyptian traveller (Chabas,
p. 313) speaks of water sent to the island of Tyre in boats. Tyre is
called by him the city of “two ports,” one being on the north,
called the Sidonian, and one on the south, called the Egyptian.
300 This letter agrees with others preceding. Neboyapiza’s town Kamid,
in Lebanon, was about sixty miles to the northeast of Accho, and
Ziza was perhaps his sister or daughter, married to the king of an
adjoining kingdom. The soldiers to be sent to Megiddo would obtain
news, perhaps, of his fate, from a force on its way to Yabis, in
Bashan, which his enemies reached after taking Damascus. Makdani is
probably the Megiddo of the Bible, on the way to Bashan, at the
great ruin of Mujedd’a, near Beisân. The situation agrees with that
of the city of Makta, or Megiddo, mentioned by the Egyptian
traveller near the Jordan fords (Chabas, p. 207). The Magid— of the
previous passage is probably another spelling of the same name. The
lady seems to have intended to go there with a guard, and perhaps to
obtain a detachment to go to Kamid. In the lists of Thothmes III,
Megiddo (Makdi) stands second, after Kadesh of the Hittites; and it
was at Megiddo that the chief victory of Thothmes was won. It was
then already a fortress which stood a siege, and was the key to the
road from Accho to Damascus. The form “Makdani” is explained by the
Megiddo of Zechariah (xii. II); and this final “n” is represented by
the guttural “’Ain” of the modern Arabic “Mujedd’a.” There is no
reason at all for placing the site at Legio, west of the plain of
Esdraelon, a site which does not agree with any monumental notice,
or with the Biblical accounts (see “Memoirs of the Survey of Western
Palestine,” vol. ii.).
301 There were several Hazors in the north of Palestine. Perhaps the
most likely site is the Hazor of the Egyptian traveller. It is
mentioned as on a mountain (Chabas, p. 313), between Aksap (Achzib,
north of Accho) and the Sea of Galilee. This might be the Hazor
which Joshua took (Josh. xi. 1) from Jabin, which was above the
Hûleh. The name only remains, west of the probable site, in the
Arabic “Jebel Hadireh,” a high mountain of Upper Galilee. The King
of Hazor’s name is unfortunately not quite clear in the text, but
seems to be either Abdebaenu, or more probably Iebaenu (Jabin).
There was another Jabin of Hazor later on in history (Judges iv. 2).
It was no doubt a family name.
302 The nearest places to Hebron seem to have been Nezeb in the valley
of Elah, easily reached by a broad, flat road, and on the south
Kanana (Kana’an), a fortress taken by Seti I, which is only two
miles southwest of Hebron. This was (if the identification be
accepted) the limit of conquest (see Brugsch, “Hist.,” vol. ii., p.
13), when Seti (about 1366 B.C.) conquered the Beersheba plains,
advancing by Rehoboth and Bethlebaoth. The land of Zahi was south of
Hebron, and famous for its wine and trees (Brugsch, vol. i., p.
330), Hebron still possessing fine vineyards. But the Amorites of
Hebron were never apparently disturbed by the chariots, and appear
in these letters as marauders of Egyptian stations. There is no
mention of any advance of the Egyptians into Moab, though Seir and
Edom are noticed very early, when the Sinaitic copper-mines were
being worked, and before chariots came into use. In the time of the
twelfth and thirteenth dynasties, however, the political conditions
in Syria were different. The Akkadian King Kudea—a Mongol—was ruling
in 2500 B.C. in North Syria, and sent for granite to Sinai. At this
time also, according to the Bible, there were Hittites in Hebron,
who had been driven to the north by Ahmes about 1700 B.C. So that
the population in 1500 B.C. seems to have been entirely Semitic.
303 Gulata is an interesting name to find in the south, as it may have
some connection with that of Goliah.
304 The sign of deity is attached to this name, showing that Dagon, the
Philistine god, is intended; and it appears to mean “Thou, Dagon,
art a shield.” Compare Yamirdagan (B. 136).
305 The word “Khazanu” is here used of an Egyptian official, but with
the qualification “chief Ka” introducing the Egyptian word. This
agrees with the view that “Pa-ka” means “principal man.”
306 The sign meant originally “cup.” It is remarkable that wine is not
mentioned in the letters, unless the drink here noticed was wine.
There was plenty of wine in Syria and in Hebron as early as 1600
B.C.
307 The text is damaged. It seems perhaps to read “Citam Mizpi.” If this
is right, Mizpah near Jerusalem might be intended, or it may mean
“below the heights.”
308 Gazri is the Gezer of the Bible, now Tell Jezar, at the foot of the
Jerusalem hills.
309 Tabu is probably Taiyibeh, seven miles northwest of Hebron, on a
hill at the head of the valley of Elah. This fits in with the rest
of the topographical notices.
310 Probably the same Khaia who appears in the north as an envoy to the
Amorites—an Egyptian official.
311 Takanu (see B. 199, 70 B. M.) lived near Givti, and perhaps was the
chief of that town, which may be Gibeah of Judah, near the valley of
Elah, south-east of Makkedah. It is mentioned with Hareth, which was
close by Gibeah.
312 Referring to the King’s order on papyrus. In Dusratta’s Hittite
letter a royal decree on papyrus is also mentioned.
313 Biruyapiza was probably the second son of Labaya.
314 Macdalim may be Mejdel, in the Philistine plain, which is still a
place of importance, with a market.
315 Cuuzbe is probably the Chezib of the Bible (Gen. xxxviii. 5), in the
low hills east of Gath, now ’Ain Kezbeh. The marauders seem to issue
from the mountains, destroying the commerce of the plains (compare
59 B. M.). Chezib is again mentioned (104 B.).
316 This letter is perhaps explained by another (104 B.), in which the
King of Jerusalem sends his wives to Egypt with the Egyptian envoy,
on account of the war with the Hebrews.
317 Chief of Keilah, whose letters follow.
318 If Takanu’s town was Givti, and Givti was Gibeah of Judah, he is
referring to the southern route by the Valley of Elah.
319 “Tarka” instead of “Paka.” In Egyptian the word “tar” means “to
drive” or “compel,” preceding the sign of a man with a stick.
“Tarka” is thus apparently an “overseer” of the people.
320 “Yapa’a” is the same name as “Japhia,” mentioned as the King of
Lachish (Josh. x. 3), who was the enemy of Joshua. He appears here
as King of Gezer, and the King of Gezer is called in the Bible Horam
(x. 33). The words Gezer and Lachish would not look unlike in the
writing of the earlier Hebrew (about the Christian era), but it is
not impossible that the two towns may have had the same king.
Indeed, the letter seems to show this, as Mer’ash is near Lachish.
321 “Mu(ra)’azi” seems clearly to be “Mer’ash,” the Hebrew “Moresheth
Gath” (Micah i. 14). The modern name is nearer to the Amorite than
to the Hebrew, having a guttural at the end; and, as in other cases,
the Amorite “z” stands for a Hebrew “s.” The site is south of Gath,
and not far from Lachish, close to Beit Jibrîn.
322 The name of the King of Jerusalem is rendered “Abdhiba” by Dr.
Winckler, and “Abd Tobba” by Dr. Sayce. The second reading is
possible in all cases but one (B. 102), when the sign used was not
the syllabic value “Tob,” but only “Khi” or “Hi.” This would mean
“servant of the Good One.” Adonizedek was the name of the King of
Jerusalem killed by Joshua (x. 3). It is to be remembered that many
of the names in these letters are written, not in syllables, but by
ideograms. Ribadda’s name is hardly ever spelled syllabically,
though it is rendered certain by the cases in which it is so
spelled. I am inclined, therefore, to suppose that we have to deal,
not with an unusual name, like Abdhiba or Abdtobba, which is unknown
in history, but with the name of Joshua’s contemporary, spelled “US”
(= “Adoni” “Lord”), and “KHI” × “BA,” “good do” = “zedec”
(“justice”). There must, however, always be some doubt as to
personal names, unless checked by variant readings.
323 Adonizedek is meditating flight. His letters speak of a raid on
Gezer, Ascalon, and as far as Lachish, after the taking of Ajalon by
the Hebrews, but they say nothing of Makkedah. From the book of
Joshua we learn that after the battle of Ajalon the Hebrews pursued
to Azekah, perhaps the ruin of Zak, east of Gaza, and to Makkedah
(x. 11), and then returned to Gilgal (15). An interval of unstated
duration occurred, while the five kings, Adonizedek, Japhia, Hoham,
Piram, and Debir (ver. 3), fled to Makkedah, where they were found
hid in a cave. It was during this interval, apparently, that these
Jerusalem letters were written.
324 The sign is unusual. The words are “icalu, ca-ar (Irhu) zabbatu,” or
perhaps “icalu-ca ar(unu) zabbatu.” The latter would mean “They
prevail over thee; they have been swift to seize.”
325 “I have no father and no army.” It either means this or “Have I no
father and no friend?” It might refer to his father’s death, or to
the King of Egypt not being his father and friend. Dr. Sayce renders
“neither father nor mother” (“SAL um” for “rag um”); but it is very
unusual for orientals to refer to their female relations or wives,
though in the case of the King of Accho (95 B.) the writer speaks of
his wife; but this is for a special reason (see also 104 B.).
326 “’Abiri.” This is read by others “Habiri” (“allies”); but the
political circumstances do not agree with this explanation, and the
sign is used throughout the letters for the guttural “’Ain” (as, for
instance, in the name of Azzah or Gaza). There is no mention in the
southern letters of Aziru, Abdasherah, Aitugama, or any of the
northern allies; and the sign for “allies” or “helpers” in the
northern letters is quite different. On the other hand, the ’Abiri
are never mentioned, except in the south, near Jerusalem. They are
called people of the “blood” or “tribe” of the ’Abiri (B. 106), and
of the “land” of the ’Abiri (B. 199), showing that the term is
derived from the ’Abarim, or mountains east of Jordan. The Abiru
chiefs are mentioned in the singular (B. 102, 104), and none of
these facts can be reconciled with the view that they were “allies.”
They are distinctly said to have come from Seir (Edom) in one letter
(B. 104), and to have left their pastures (B. 103), and are probably
the “desert people” of the Gezer letter (51 B. M.). Their actions
are those recorded of Joshua’s first campaign, and the date agrees,
as does also the notice in the letters of Jabin, Japhia, and
Adonizedek, the contemporaries of Joshua. Another suggestion has
been that they were Hebronites; but in such case the “n” would not
be absent, and the sign for city would no doubt occur. They have
also been supposed to be Babylonians, but this is indirect
contradiction to the relations noticed in the letters between Egypt
and Babylon at this time.
327 Ilimelec is a name found in the Bible (Ruth i. 2; ii. 1) as the name
of Ruth’s father-in-law, a native of Bethlehem, in the time of the
Judges. It is therefore a Hebrew name.
328 Milcilu was the King of Gezer, and Suardata of Keilah; his letters
follow. This represents the league of kings before the battle of
Ajalon.
329 Givti is probably one of the Gibeahs, perhaps Gibeah of Judah, now
Jeb’a, southwest of Jerusalem, in the direction of Keilah (Josh. xv.
57), eight miles west of Bethlehem; unless we should read Gimtzi, in
which case it would be Gimzu (2 Chron. xxviii. 18), now Jimzu, east
of Lydda, and north of Gezer. The former reading seems the better
(see 199 B.).
330 “Kielti” is “Keilah” (Josh. xv. 44), now Kilah, east of the Valley
of Elah, in the direction of Hebron.
331 Rubute is Rabbah of Judah, now the ruin Rubba, in the same district,
four miles east of Beit Jibrîn (Josh. xv. 60).
332 “Beth Baalath” is probably Baalath of Judah, the old name of Kirjath
Jearim, now Erma, in the Valley of Sorek. The word “gur” may either
mean that the city was “near” Jerusalem, or that it had been an ally
of Jerusalem. It is clear that if the forces of the lowlands were
marching to assist Jerusalem by the highway, past Kirjath Jearim,
the revolt of that town would delay the forces from Gezer, which
would naturally take that route.
333 “Beth Amilla” is evidently the “Beth ham Millo” of the Bible (2 Sam.
v. 9); “house of the chief,” as we now know. It was the royal palace
in the lower city (Akra), north of Zion. There was also a Millo in
Shechem (Judges ix. 6, 20), evidently the palace of that city.
334 When Adonizedek sent away his women he was preparing for his own
flight, by the advice, it would seem, of Egypt. The Egyptian
resident also retired. Suta has already been mentioned as an
Egyptian official in the north (48 B.); he is also mentioned in a
letter from Babylon (4 B. M.), and by the King of Accho, who was a
contemporary of Neboyapiza and of Aziru (95 B.), which with other
indications shows that Aziru’s revolt was contemporary with the
Hebrew invasion—at least, within a few years.
335 This shows the enemy as coming from Mount Seir or Edom.
336 This “Givti” would seem to be one of the Gibeahs, unless we should
read “Gimtzi” as before.
337 Perhaps this is capable of being rendered, “I am breaking to pieces;
the chief is becoming master.”
338 What is meant is that the Egyptians, having come by sea to Ascalon
or Gaza, are to march to Jerusalem by the Valley of Elah, the
highway by which the Philistines came up against Saul. “Cazib”
(“Chezib”) is in this valley, now ’Ain Kezbeh; and north of it is a
valley with the unique name “Naheir” (“the little river”). The road
becomes difficult when the Valley of Elah turns to the south, which
is alluded to in the next letter (B. 103). (For Chezib see also 73
B. M.)
339 “Tu-ur ba-zu” appears to be spelled phonetically, but does not sound
like a Semitic name. If it were taken as an ideogram it might be
rendered “Ben Zicaru.”
340 “Zelah” has been proposed (Heb. “Zel’a”), but the final sign does
not seem to be used to represent the “’Ain.” There were two Zelahs,
one being Petra, the other north of Jerusalem (now probably the ruin
of Salah); it appears to me more probable that Shiloh is intended.
The Amorite “z” or “s” occasionally stands for a Hebrew “sh”; and
the modern name “Seilûn” has always presented the difficulty that
the “s” is not the proper representative of the Hebrew “sh.”
Perhaps, as in other cases, the peasant pronunciation represents the
Amorite rather than the Hebrew sound. Shiloh is remarkable for the
great pass it commands.
341 There was a siege of Lachish by Joshua (Josh. x. 33).
342 Rimmon is probably the Rimmon of Benjamin, not far south of Shiloh,
now the village of Rummon (Judges xx. 45, etc.).
343 The name spelled in other cases “U-ru-sa-lim” is here spelled
“Uru-sa-lim,” showing that the usual explanation, “city of peace,”
is probable. It has been proposed to translate “city of the god
Salim,” a deity who is not known otherwise; but in these letters the
names of gods have the prefix AN (“deity”), which does not occur in
any instance in the name of the city. The word “salim” for “peace”
has just been used in the letter, and occurs elsewhere in these
letters.
344 “Casipi.” It has been read “Casia” (“Cushites”), but the word before
is in the plural, and the plural could not end in “a.” Any great
success is still attributed to sorcery in the East. It may, however,
only mean “malicious,” according to its use in Hebrew.
345 There was an Egyptian known to history who bore the name of Paur
(Brugsch, “Hist.” i. p. 462); he was a governor in Nubia, somewhat
later than the present events. The name, however, must have been
common, since “Paur” stands for “Paka” in some cases. It has been
already explained as an Egyptian word.
346 The participle is feminine.
347 There had been four previous letters, agreeing with my arrangement.
348 Ajalon (now Yâlo) is at the foot of the Bethhoron Pass, where the
battle against the five kings occurred. The women were apparently
sent away before the battle of Ajalon, after which the easiest road
to the plains, by Bethhoron and Ajalon, was closed. The flight of
Adonizedek took place, according to the Biblical account, after the
battle of Ajalon, while Joshua was at Gilgal, where the news was
brought.
349 This appears to be the meaning, and refers to the road, mentioned in
the last letter, by the Valley of Elan—less easy than that by
Ajalon.
350 “Casi,” or Cush, as in Egyptian records, appears to mean upper
Egypt. See what has been said as to this name in Ribadda’s letter
(61 B.).
351 “Harti Cirmiel” is evidently Hareth Carmel, representing the Hebron
country from Hareth (Kharas), on the northwest, above the Valley of
Elah, to Carmel of Judah on the southeast. This would agree with
placing Givti at Jeb’a.
352 Apparently the southern Gibeah of Judah, mentioned before (106 B.).
Dr. Sayce reads Gath, but when Gath is mentioned it it called Giti
(154 B.).
353 “Labaya” may mean, according to a common form of expression, the
land of Labaya.
354 “Salabimi,” Shaalbim (Judges i. 35; 1 Kings iv. 9) or Shaalabbin
(Josh. xix. 42), is probably Selbît, lying southeast of Lydda, near
Ajalon.
355 In Judges i. 35 we read of the Amorites remaining in this district.
356 This name may be read various ways, as “Addamaru” or “Abu Amaru.”
Perhaps the name “Ithamar” may be compared (Exod. vi. 23; xxviii.
1). See also Yabitiri of Joppa (Abiather?).
357 The only difficulty in identifying this place, “Ci el-ti,” with
Keilah lies in the spelling with “Caph” instead of “Koph.” The name
contains the required guttural found in the Hebrew; this has
disappeared from the modern name, “Kilah.” The sign for “Ki” does
not seem to be used in these letters; and there are several other
instances of confusion of the two letters, as when “Ka” is written
for “Ca” (“thee”) in a few cases.
358 “Ra” is apparently an Egyptian name. The order for withdrawal of the
troops appears to have arrived.
359 This quarrel between the King of Jerusalem, the King of Makkedah,
and the King of Keilah is probably early, before the appearance of
the Hebrews; for Adonizedek says that the sons of Labaya (103 B.)
were his contemporaries at that time, and Suyardata becomes his ally
(106 B.) in presence of the common danger. If “behind” means to the
west (the front being always the east), the attack was from the
Valley of Elah. Keilah has very rough mountains on the east, and is
easily reached on the west.
360 The meaning seems to be that Adonizedek had seized the flocks and
herds.
361 “Basmath,” meaning “balsam” or “sweet,” was no doubt a common
woman’s name. It occurs as the name of Ishmael’s daughter whom Esau
married (Gen. xxxvi. 3, 4, 13), and as that of one of Solomon’s
daughters (1 Kings iv. 15). She may have been the wife of Milcilu,
King of Gezer, and pleads for her sons after her husband’s death. He
had apparently been seized by the Hebrews (106 B.).
362 Zorah, now Sur’ah (Josh. xix. 41; Judges xiii. 2, etc.), was not far
south of Ajalon, and near Gezer on the southeast.
363 This name cannot be identified, as has been proposed, with that of
Abdasherah, since “Ashtoreth” and “Asherah” are different words.
364 If it is to be read simply as a syllabic name, it would be perhaps
“Musi-huna.” There is a “Mes-hah” (“place of unction”) in lower
Galilee. I have here supposed “huna” to come from the root “hana”
(Heb. “hanah”), “to inhabit.”
365 “Tuser Atta,” a Mongol name, “father of conquest.” “Arta Sumara”
appears to mean “destroying hero.”
366 “Mitani” or Matiene (Herod, i. 72, 189, 202; iii. 94; v. 49, 52;
vii. 72) extended from the sources of the Araxes to the Halys River,
and thus included all Armenia west of Lake Van: other names for the
region were, the “Land of Khani Rabbe” (or Khani Rabbatu) and the
“Land of the Minyans.” (See 27 B.)
367 The Hittites clearly did not live in Matiene, but in the adjacent
country of northern Syria.
368 “Gilukhipa,” a Mongol name, “possessing glory.”
369 “Gilia” and “Tunipripi,” Mongol names, “glorious” and “very
reliable.”
370 This may be dated late in the reign of Amenophis III, as Dusratta
survived him.
371 Possibly Queen Teie or Thi.
372 Amanu, the Egyptian god Amen.
373 The word “Khatanu” means any kinsman by marriage, and “emu” is still
used generally of any “kinsman” or even for “friend.” Some have
translated “son-in-law” and “father-in-law,” but the latter word
would be “khamu,” not “emu.” Dusratta was the father-in-law of
Amenophis IV, but brother-in-law of Amenophis III.
374 “Binti,” not “Bintiya” (“my daughter”). The word “Bint” is still
used generally for “a young woman.” Perhaps Queen Teie is intended.
375 “Targumanu” (“interpreter”) is the modern “dragoman.” Khani (see p.
201) was sent to Aziru, showing that the Canaanite rebellion may
have occurred in the reign of Amenophis III.
376 “Assat mariya elme,” or perhaps “Assutti elme” (“in marriage to the
youth”). There is no statement that shows Dusratta’s daughter to
have married Amenophis III. She married his son, and is called
“daughter-in-law” of Queen Teie (11 B. M.).
377 The gold came from Nubia and Abyssinia. (See Brugsch, “Hist. Egypt,”
i. pp. 287, 310.)
378 In Aramaic “Gilia,” in the native tongue “Gilias,” with the Mongol
termination of the nominative indefinite.
379 “Ikhibin,” possibly Kaban Maden in Armenia.
380 “Si-migi-s” is apparently a Mongol title for some deity, “the eye of
night” (or “of sunset”), either the moon or the evening star.
381 “Khalci,” either Chalcis near Aleppo, or the “Land of the Khal” or
“Phœnicians.” (Karnak list, No. 140.)
382 The Minyans (Jer. li. 27; and in Ps. xlv. 8, Targum) lived west of
Lake Van. The Hyksos are called Men, or Menti in Egyptian texts.
Apepi, the Hyksos King, adored Set, or Sut, who was adored also by
the Hittites, and from whom Dusratta’s father, Sut-tarna (“Set is
his lord”) was probably named. It would appear that the Hyksos,
Hittites, and Armenians, were of the same race. The land of the Men
is said to have been near Assyria, and east of Syria, which agrees.
(See Brugsch, “Hist. Egypt,” i. pp. 210, 233, 234, 239.) The Minyæ
of Herodotus (i. 146; iv. 145-148) are noticed as mixed with Aryans
in Ionia, and in Lacedæmon were regarded as descendants of sailors
in the Argo—perhaps from Colchis and the Caucasus. See what is said
as to the similarity of the presents from Armenia (26 B.), and the
art of Mycenæe and Troy, which is of Asiatic origin.
383 Harran (Gen. xi. 31, etc.), now Harrân, was on the south border of
Dusratta’s kingdom, marching with Assyria. (Compare 24 B.)
384 “Tadukhipa,” a Mongol name, “possessing sweetness.”
385 Probably Teie is here meant, as there is no notice of Gilukhipa. She
may have died.
386 “Walk after” for “obey” or “worship,” is used just as in Biblical
Hebrew.
387 The broken name was “Nabkhuriya,” or Amenophis IV, as is clear from
the next paragraph. He was also the husband of Tadukhipa, as here
stated. (See 11 B. M.)
388 “Sitatama,” a Mongol name, apparently “fair-faced.” “Suttarna,” also
Mongolic, “Sut is his Lord.”
389 As Gilukhipa was married during the reign of Suttarna (apparently
from Egyptian sources in the tenth year of Amenophis III, or about
1490 B.C.), it is possible that “Teie” is here intended; but her
father’s name was Iuaa, or Ivaa, and it is not clear what relation
she was to Dusratta. From 11 B. it seems clear that they were
related, and later in the present letter he mentions the “father of
Teie,” apparently as living with him after his own father’s death.
The syllables “Ivve” (perhaps for “Ivaa”) precede the father’s name,
but as the text is here broken, it is not certain that these
syllables represent a personal name. Perhaps Teie was Dusratta’s
cousin. She was certainly of royal birth, and is represented as very
fair, but with dark hair. The words “a daughter” may mean only “a
young woman.”
390 Khai was sent to Aziru (31 B.), which again shows the date of the
Canaanite rebellion to have been early.
391 This agrees with 27 B. as regards Dusratta’s conquests in the
Hittite country.
392 As Amenophis IV was married already in the reign of Amenophis III,
his mother’s marriage evidently took place some twenty years at
least before the date of this letter.
393 Apparently this was written at least four years after the death of
Amenophis III, or about 1450 B.C. at earliest.
394 The lands given when Tadukhipa was married.
395 “Mazipalali,” a Mongol name, “hero with the sword.”
396 Indicating that these Mongols were not monogamists.
397 Mongol name, “Ar-Tessupas,” “worshipper of Tessupas” (Rimmon). Other
Mongol names occur in 27 B. (in the native speech) including Asali
(“joyful”) and Artatan (“strong soldier”). If Teie’s name was
Mongolic, it would mean “bright.”
398 Similar extradition is noticed in the treaty between Rameses II and
Kheta Sar, the Hittite king, a century later.
399 The signs _IZCU_, _SAK_, _TAK_ (“weapon, stone, head”) seem to
indicate a stone axe such as the Carians used. Battle-axes of flint
are noticed in the time of Thothmes III. (Brugsch, “Hist. Egypt,” i.
p. 342.)
400 This letter may, perhaps, be earlier than the preceding.
401 From a later letter (1 B. M.) it seems that the foreign ladies were
shown to envoys from their parents, to enable them to report as to
their health.
402 Or “the curious things.”
403 Or, perhaps, “but letters are received.”
404 This agrees with the letters from Babylonia in showing the disturbed
state of the countries between Armenia and Egypt early in the reign
of Amenophis IV, due to the revolts of Hittites, Amorites, and
Hebrews.
405 The two-headed eagle was a Hittite emblem; it is also found at
Mycenæ.
406 Iron from Asia is believed to have been known yet earlier (Brugsch.
“Hist. Egypt,” i. pp. 342, 354). It was known in the fourteenth
century B.C. by its Semitic name, “berzil.”
407 Clearly written to Teie, as Amenophis IV is mentioned as her son.
408 “Yuni,” as a Mongol name, would mean “true.”
409 “Rimmon Nirari” is an Assyrian name, but the king so called lived a
good deal later. The rank of this writer is evidently inferior, but
not as inferior as that of the Canaanite chiefs. He may have been an
Assyrian prince, and perhaps wrote to Amenophis III. “Nukhasse” Dr.
Bezold supposes to be the “Anaugas” of the records of Thothmes III,
an unknown region in Syria. I have supposed it to be Merash, reading
“Markhasse.”
410 This king, unknown before, was probably older than Amenophis III,
who married his daughter, who was marriageable before the writer’s
father died.
411 As in the previous case (82 B.). See p. 236.
412 Probably Irtabi (1 B.).
413 The month names are written in ideograms of Accadian origin.
414 This King’s date has been placed as late as 1400 B.C., but the dates
are not accurately fixed. His daughter appears to have married
Burnaburias of Babylon before 1450 B.C. (“Trans. Soc. Bib. Arch.” i.
p. 69). His predecessor, Buzur, Assur, had settled the Assyrian
boundary with Burnaburias. (Ibid., p. 68.)
415 This interruption (see also the letter from Chaldea, 18 B., in the
later reign of Horus) was probably due to the Syrian revolt (compare
23 B., 7 B., and 8 B.), showing that the power of Egypt, broken in
1480 B.C., was still unrecognized as late as 1400 B.C., which brings
us near the time when Rameses II recognized the independence of the
Hittites, about 1360 B.C. (See p. 241.)
416 Supposed to have reigned about 1550 B.C.: presents from Assyria were
received by Thothmes III even earlier (Brugsch, “Hist. Egypt,” i. p.
328), including chariots and cedar-wood.
417 Burnaburias appears to have reigned about 1450 B.C., or a little
later. As regards the dates of Egyptian kings, they rest on the
statement (see Brugsch, “Hist.,” i. p. 395) that the star Sothis
rose on the 28th of Epiphi, in the reign of Thothmes III, and on the
date of the new moon of various months in the same reign. The
Egyptian year was a year of 365 days, and therefore vague as
regarded the sidereal year. The risings of Sothis (Sirius) are
recorded (“Decree of Canopus”) in the later Ptolemaic times as they
occurred in connection with the Egyptian year, changing one day
every four solar years; and the Rosetta stone fixes the calendar.
From the rising of Sothis we should obtain a date about 1598 B.C. as
falling in the reign of Thothmes III; and from the coincidences of
the new moon we should obtain 1574 B.C. as the thirty-fourth and
1585 B.C. as the twenty-third years of his reign. He would,
therefore, accede 1608 B.C. Dr. Brugsch places his accession about
1600 B.C.
418 This indicates the beginning of the Syrian wars in the reign of
Amenophis III.
419 Apparently a Babylonian princess was to be sent to Egypt, and an
Egyptian princess to Babylon. The two royal families were already
allied by the marriage of Irtabi, and yet earlier of the sister of
Callimmasin (1 B. M.), even if no Egyptian princess had been granted
to the latter. The writer’s son was probably Carakhardas, who
succeeded him.
420 Zalmu was a Babylonian. See the next letter.
421 Khai was still living in the reign of Amenophis IV.
422 “Siiri,” “a company of merchants,” as in Hebrew.
423 Or “advised this.” The foes attacking Egypt were at some distance
from Babylonia, and the news only came by the envoy from Egypt.
424 “Sumatta.” Compare “Shammah” (Gen. xxxvi. 13-17), a proper name,
perhaps, from the same root.
425 “Khinna tuni” would mean “inhabiting Khinna,” see Khini (64 B. M.,
p. 25), but more probably Hannathon in lower Galilee, east of Accho,
is intended, now Kefr’ Anân.
426 See Zatatna and Surata, kings of Accho (93 B., 95 B.), p. 249. This,
taken with the name of Neboyapiza in the latter letter, indicates a
date early in the reign of Amenophis IV.
427 Alasiya was apparently a maritime region beyond the tributary
Egyptian States, and not either in Babylonia (Shinar) nor in the
Hittite country (5 B. M.); probably it is the Elishah of the Bible
on the south shores of Asia Minor. (See my note “P. E. F. Quarterly
Statement,” January, 1892, p. 44.) Elishah (Gen. x. 4; Ezek. xxvii.
7) was a maritime region. The diffusion westward of a Semitic
population in Cilicia has long been suspected to have occurred
early.
428 Semitic personal names, showing the worship of Ea and Baal in
Elishah.
429 The signs SAL US indicate “female servants.”
430 “Lukki,” perhaps the Lycians, or perhaps the Ligyes of Herodotus, on
the borders of Matiene (vii. 72). They appear to be the Laka who
lived in the Taurus, the Leku of Egyptian records (Brugsch, ii. pp.
44, 54, 116, 124) mentioned with other tribes of north Syria, and
with the Shakalisha—perhaps Cilicians.
431 “An-Amar-ut” (“sun-disk”) I have supposed to be the name of
Khu-en-Aten (“glory of the sun-disk”), a title apparently of
Amenophis IV (Brugsch, “Hist. Egypt,” i. p. 441); but it may, of
course, refer to the god so called (see note, p. 198). The King of
Egypt is called the sun-god in many of the letters in this
collection.
432 The sign KHU means “bird,” but also “glory” and “prince.” “Ilid
KHUMES” I take to mean “born of princes.” Others have rendered it
“who trains birds,” but it would rather mean “who gives birth to
birds,” which is impossible.
433 The name of the King is everywhere written in full, with the two
cartouches.
434 Here and in other places a gap in the tablet has been filled up by
the corresponding sentence in the inscription of Medinet Habou.
435 The plants.
436 Allusion to the festival of the coronation.
437 The τριακονητηρις here and in the title of the King has been
employed as we should say a “century.”
438 Literally, life, health, and strength.
_ 439 I.e._, the flocks of the temple’s estates.
440 The defaced passages ran thus, “Adoration of Osiris by the steward
of the flocks (Amen-mes), son of the Lady Nefer-t-ari.”
441 Ave!
442 Vide Goodwin, in Chabas; Mélanges III, Tom. I, pl. 257.
443 Hermopolis magna.
444 The entrance to the dwelling of the dead.
445 The words “paut” and “paut-ti,” or double-paut, are connected with
the idea of “creation.”
446 ΝΟΥΝ, νουν, abyssus.
447 “Mesess,” sky, vault, and veil.
448 Ritual, ch. XVIII. Lepsius, “Todtenbuch,” xi. ch. XVIII. ix. e. 17.
I. 62.
449 Literally, “for a number of times.”
450 The two long feathers which adorn the head-attire of the Sun-god.
451 “Sensen,” fraternize.
452 Sam.
453 Beneficent force.
454 The great dwelling of Seb is the earth itself.
_ 455 I.e._, To the lord of justice.
456 The entire north.
457 Or, satiating abundance.
458 The exact meaning is the French “combler.”
459 The papyrus is much worn here. The name of the place is perhaps
“Pamakar of the sky.”
460 Indian fig.
461 “Sestsou-em-païf-nakhtou Ousormara” is the name of a fortress built
by Rameses II, in Syria or Palestina, and different from Ouati. The
name means “Rameses II in his victories.”
462 The order is quite contradictory. How can it be disobeyed, and how
obeyed?
463 Or, gone to the gap to which the dead went in the Sun-boat.
464 Syrians as prisoners of war.
465 Negroes.
466 Cedar or acacia.
467 A kind of balsam.
468 Syria.
469 Or cattle.
470 Or industrious, “rut.”
471 Dead or departed.
472 If this rendering is correct, the meaning must be that the god of
the Nile is the secret source of light; see § 3, l. 5, and § 8, l.
1. The attributes of Egyptian gods, who represent the unknown under
various aspects, are interchangeable to a great extent; here the
Nile is Ammon, doing also the work of Ra. Dr. Birch suggests that
the rendering may be, “hiding his course night and day.”
473 Ra, the Sun-god, who is represented as delighting in flowers; see
Ritual, c. lxxxi, “I am the pure lily which comes out of the fields
of Ra.”
474 The Nile-god traverses heaven; his course there corresponds to that
of the river on earth.
475 See x. 6. This is obscure, but it may mean that the Nile-god
protects the newly sown fields from the birds.
_ 476 I.e._, he sets them at work. Thus Ritual, c. xv. 20, “Ra, the giver
of food, destroys all place for idleness, cuts off all excuse.”
477 As they are by idleness; see Ritual, cxxv. p. cclv. (Birch).
_ 478 I.e._, he makes it ready for cultivation.
479 Their joy and gratitude respond to his advance.
480 Num is the Nile-god regarded as giving life.
481 The Egyptian word corresponds to Αρσαφης, which, according to
Plutarch, signifies τὸ ἀνδρεῖον. (Isis et Osiris, c. 37.) The
Egyptians, like all ancient people, identify terror with strength or
greatness.
482 This scriptural phrase comes in abruptly. It is probably drawn from
some older source.
483 The true Deity is not represented by any image. This is a relic of
primeval monotheism: out of place as referring to the Nile, but
pointing to a deeper and sounder faith. Compare the laws of Manu, i.
5-7.
484 See last line of § 13. There are no shrines covered, as usual, with
colored hieroglyphics. The whole of this passage is of extreme
importance, showing that, apart from all objects of idolatrous
worship, the old Egyptian recognized the existence of a supreme god,
unknown and inconceivable, the true source of all power and
goodness. Compare the oldest forms of the 17th chapter of the
funeral Ritual in Lepsius’s “Aelteste Texte.”
485 1 Ki. viii. 27.
486 Is. xi. 13, 14.
487 Or “thou givest them counsels, orderest all their goings.”
_ 488 I.e._, “all magistrates are the servants of the deity, and
administer his law from South to North.”
489 Maspero “par lui est bue l’eau (les pleurs) de tous les yeux,”
_i.e._ “he wipes away tears from all eyes.”
490 Dr. Birch, to whom I am indebted for this rendering, observes that
the goddess Neith is often represented with two crocodiles sucking
her breasts.
_ 491 I.e._, “The Nile fills all mortals with the languor of desire, and
gives fecundity.”
_ 492 I.e._, “without needing rain, the gift of the goddess of heaven.”
Such seems to be the meaning of a very obscure passage.
493 See note on § 1.
494 The meaning is, evidently, that he combines the attributes of Ptah
the Demiurge, and Kabes, an unknown god.
495 All things serviceable to man—arms, implements, etc.
496 This seems to mean, “he gives oracles at his shrine.” Observe the
inconsistency of this with § 5.
497 Causing scarcity of food in the land. See Ex. viii. 18, 21.
498 In a season of scarcity prayers are offered for supply of water. The
following lines seem to describe great haste when the inundation
comes on; none wait for their clothing, even when valuable, and the
nightly solemnities are broken up: but the passage is obscure.
499 Literal answer, “_i.e._, with thanks and prayers, when thou bringest
the water in abundance.”
500 See II. 2.
501 The gold represents the preciousness of the gift of food.
502 This is often mentioned in the inscriptions among the most precious
stones.
503 See note on II. 4.
504 Which he ate when he could get nothing else.
505 An allusion to the legend that the Nile comes forth from two
openings in the South.
506 See V, last line.
507 The Pharaoh.
508 The two regions.
509 “At the entertainments of the rich, just as the company is about to
rise from the repast, a small coffin is carried round, containing a
perfect representation of a dead body; it is in size sometimes of
one, but never more than two cubits, and as it is shown to the
guests in rotation the bearer exclaims, ‘Cast your eyes on this
figure; after death you yourself will resemble it: drink, then, and
be happy.’ ”—Herodotus, “Euterpe,” xxviii.
510 “The Song of the Harper” in the tomb of Nefer-hotep bears a great
resemblance to this composition. See Dümichen, “Historische
Inschriften,” ii. pl. 40.
511 Or, perhaps, “the little ones, the children.”
512 Imhotep, the son of the primeval deity Ptah, was the mythical author
of various arts and sciences. The Greeks spelled the name Ἰμούθης,
Imouth, but more frequently substituted the name Ἀσκλήπιος,
Asclepios.
513 Hartatef was the son of King Menkera (Mycerinus), to whom the
discovery of part of the Ritual, cap. lxiv. is attributed, and who
was the author of a mystical work.
514 Compare the Assyrian phrase “The land men cannot return from,”
“Descent of Ishtar,” “Records of the Past,” Vol. i. p. 143, p. 5.
_ 515 I.e._, “of the mourners.”
516 Here follows a lacuna.
517 2 Anastasi, p. 8, l. 5, to p. 9, l. 1.
518 2 Anastasi, p. 9, l. 2, to p. 10, l. 1.
519 The phrase which I have translated “the way of Amen” is literally
“the water of Amen.” In Egypt the river Nile was the great road or
highway, hence by an easy metaphor the water was used to signify
“the way”; that is, the will, command, or rule
520 2 Anastasi, p. 10, l. 1.
521 Tum or Atum (the setting sun), Lord of Heliopolis.
522 Heliopolis, the city of Tum.
523 Heliopolis, the city of Tum.
524 Or, “do not censure me.”
525 Literally, “without his body.” It seems to mean weakness,
mutilation, or disability.
526 Literally, “upon my mouth.”
527 Lacuna.
528 2 Anastasi, p. 5, l. 6.
529 Literally, “in health, life, and strength”; but the King being the
subject of the wish, I have ventured to Anglicize the phrase as
above.
530 The King Meneptah, son of Rameses II, and his immediate successor.
531 The Sun.
532 A form of the Sun-god of the West, the chief god of Heliopolis.
533 Lacuna.
534 Lacuna.
535 Lacuna.
536 Lacuna.
537 The panther’s skin was the special characteristic of the dress of
the priest of Khem the Vivifier.
538 Lacuna.
539 Lacuna.
540 Rannu, an Egyptian goddess who presided over the harvest.
541 Lacuna.
542 Lacuna.
543 Lacuna.
544 An or On, “the house of the Obelisk,” or Heliopolis.
545 Thebes.
546 Arabia.
547 Palestine or Arabia.
548 Chem.
549 Mahennu.
550 Uati.
551 Frequent allusions are made in the papyri to the production of
created things from the eyes of Ra or of Horus. Noxious things were
supposed to be produced from the eye of Set or Typhon.
552 Thebes.
553 Heliopolis.
554 The name Amen means “secret,” or “hidden.”
555 Harmachis.
556 Thebes.
557 Heliopolis.
558 The serpent
559 Creator.
560 The diadem.
561 Many of the phrases in this beautiful hymn are ambiguous, even where
the original text is perfect.
562 This note is subscribed in the original papyrus.
563 “At the front of the morning.” Some prefer rendering the words
“every morning.”
564 Perhaps “Approach thou thy mother Nut.” “Neb Ra,” “Lord Ra,” seems
clearly the reading of the text given in Lepsius, unless the scribe
has twice put the hieratic character for “nuter” instead of the
usual form of “h”; “neb heh,” “lord of eternity,” as Maspero renders
it, is what might rather have been expected. In the following, “Isis
and Nephthys” is the version of M. Maspero; the text appears to me
to give Osiris.
565 Perhaps, “he cannot advance.”
566 Nehaher, “ghastly faced,” an infernal demon, sometimes represented
as a serpent.
567 “Thou givest life;” this may be understood also as imperative, “give
life.”
568 Bech, the Eastern hill of sunrise. Its opposite height was called
Manu.
569 “Thou turnest gloom into repose.” I am not confident that the
meaning of the original, “ta-k neshen enti ster,” is correctly given
in these words; perhaps “thou makest the adversary prostrate” may
more truly convey the sense.
570 Isis and Nephthys.
571 The name of Osiris is invariably prefixed to that of the deceased,
the latter being always assimilated to this god.
572 The first two sections are evocations addressed to Osiris defunct,
expressing the grief of his two sisters at the loss of their
brother, and referring to the search made by them after him.
573 One of the names of Osiris.
574 Surname of Osiris.
575 Surname of Osiris.
576 The following sections are invocations addressed to Osiris under the
forms of the Moon and the Sun, expressing the joy of his two sisters
at having thus perceived him.
577 The Sacred-Eye here indicates the disk of the moon.
578 The sun in all his power.
579 The setting sun.
580 The star of Sirius, where the soul of Isis dwelt.
581 Isis having with the aid of her sister Nephthys reunited the parts
of Osiris’s body, dispersed by Set, formed of them the infant Horus.
582 Neith personified the Lower Hemisphere, whence Osiris, the Rising
Sun, appeared under the form of Horus.
583 The sun nightly sinks into the bosom of his mother Neith, who
personifies the Lower Hemisphere of heaven.
584 Osiris, again coming forth under the form of Horus-conqueror (or the
Rising Sun), becomes the Lord of the Universe.
585 The high-priest, reader in the panegyrics.
586 The high-priest presiding over funeral ceremonies and rituals.
587 The Great Hall wherein the Judgment-scene was painted.
588 The heavenly region.
589 The universal being.
590 “Under the form of.”
591 The earth.
592 Gods.
593 “Who speaks to himself.”
594 Crater.
595 The weeper.
596 A fish, most likely the “phagros,” the appearance of which was
connected with the inundation.
597 The divine eye.
598 Vivifies.
599 The meaning of this name is doubtful.
600 The god of the spheres.
601 Glorifies himself.
602 A title of Osiris, literally “He who resides in the West.”
603 The covering of Ati, the air(?).
604 Solar disk.
605 The splendid one.
606 Gives a body to.
607 Creates.
608 Perhaps Anubis.
609 Solar disk.
610 Lacuna.
611 Who speaks to himself.
612 “He who raises his soul.”
613 “The high spirit.”
614 Flesh, or substance.
615 Literally, “the shining face.”
616 “He who is on the ground.”
617 Doubtful meaning.
618 “Creates,” “fashions.”
619 The genii of the watches of the night.
620 Lacuna.
621 He who opens the earth.
622 He who is armed with teeth.
623 Doubtful meaning.
624 Ra under the form of a scarab.
625 Lacuna.
626 Lacuna.
627 Teb Temt.
628 Lacuna.
629 Lacuna.
630 Apophis, the great serpent of evil.
631 The royal Osiris.
632 The god of the two horizons.
633 Unknown constellation.
634 The moon.
635 The solar disk.
636 Lacuna.
637 Lacuna.
638 Hu, the creative life; Sa, the intelligence.
639 The water of the East.
640 The water of the West.
641 He who comes forth from Mehur.
642 He who is in Netur.
643 One of the halls of the empyrean, which is here personified as a
goddess.
644 The lower region.
645 The striped headdress generally worn on the statues of the kings.
646 The planet Mars.
647 Thoth.
648 Thoth.
649 The eternal being.
650 He who embraces.
651 The God of the Nose. Each part of the body of the deceased becomes a
god. The same is found in the funereal texts, and especially in the
“Book of the Dead,” ch. xlii.
652 Osiris.
653 The Osiris is an hermaphrodite being.
654 Lacuna.
655 Lacuna.
656 His own form.
657 The sceptre which has the form of a hook, and commonly held in the
hand of Osiris.
658 The white and red crown, which is the emblem of dominion over both
Upper and Lower Egypt.
659 His existences.
660 His existences.
661 Tonen.
662 Tonen.
663 Nut personified the Upper Hemisphere of heaven.
664 Here was written the name of the deceased.
665 Probably a substance used for purifying and perfuming.
666 The earth.
667 Heaven.
668 The setting sun.
669 The solar bark.
670 Osiris.
671 Another version: uniteth itself (to) the breath of thy nostrils.
672 Another version, “by thy Lord, Ra.”
673 Osiris.
674 Those of the mummy.
675 This is the acknowledgment of the resurrection effected by the
ceremonies of the mummification. I am indebted to the friendly aid
of M. Chabas for the translation of this and one or two other
passages.
676 Corrupted passage restored by means of the manuscripts of the
Louvre.
677 Another version: “thou art received.”
678 Corrupted passage: translation uncertain.
679 Heliopolis.
680 Hermopolis.
681 Another version: “the living.”
682 Literally, “the Westerners.”
683 Illegible passage restored by means of the manuscripts of the
Louvre.
684 Another version: “this volume of the Book of Respirations is made
for him and the souls of the gods.”
685 M. de Rougé reads “Atesch,” but there are very strong reasons for
believing that the first syllable in this word is to be read “Kat,”
not “At.” Of this opinion is M. Brugsch. The Syrian name was
probably “Kadesh” (the Holy City), which the Egyptians, not having
the letter “d,” wrote “Katesh.” There were several places so called
in the East, but the Kadesh here mentioned has not been
satisfactorily identified with any of them.
686 The word “horse” is used in the original for a chariot, Homer uses
the plural _ippoi_ in a similar manner.